Valeant purchases Visudyne from QLT

Valeant Pharmaceuticals has agreed to pay $112.5 million plus contingency payments to QLT for Visudyne, according to news releases from both companies.

Of the $112.5 million, $62.5 million is for all U.S. rights and available inventories of Visudyne (verteporfin for injection) and $50 million is for rights to non-U.S. royalties on Visudyne sales. In 2011, Visudyne generated about $21 million in U.S. revenue and about $14 million outside the U.S.

“Not only will we be able to use Visudyne to better leverage our current ophthalmology sales force with a complementary product to Macugen [pegaptanib], we are pleased to add a product that retinal specialists around the county can use as an adjunctive to products like Macugen to improve treatment options,” J. Michael Pearson, Valeant chairman and CEO, said in Valeant’s release.

Valeant also has agreed to contingency payments of up to $15 million related to non-U.S. royalties for Visudyne and a royalty on net sales for new indications of the product, should any be approved, and $5 million related to QLT’s laser program in the U.S.

The Visudyne sale falls in line with significant changes to company strategy Jason M. Aryeh, QLT chairman, announced in July.

“The board is pleased to have executed on a key strategic objective and completed a transaction that is in the best interests of the company and its shareholders,” Aryeh said in the current QLT release. “We look forward to returning capital to shareholders in the most efficient manner and to maximize the potential of our synthetic oral retinoid program.”