RAHWAY, N.J.—Merck (NYSE: MRK), a research-intensive biopharmaceutical company known as MSD outside of the U.S. and Canada, has announced the completion of the acquisition of Eyebiotech Limited (EyeBio), a privately held ophthalmology-focused biotechnology company. EyeBio is now a wholly-owned subsidiary of Merck, according to the agreement. The initial agreement was reported in VMAIL back in May of this year. “The EyeBio acquisition further diversifies our late-stage pipeline with the addition of a promising candidate based on novel biology and genetics for the treatment of certain retinal diseases,” said Dr. Dean Y. Li, president, Merck Research Laboratories.

“We are excited to welcome the EyeBio team and look forward to working together to advance Restoret for the patients that need it.” EyeBio’s lead candidate, Restoret (EYE103), is an investigational, potentially first-in-class tetravalent, tri-specific antibody that acts as an agonist of the Wingless-related integration site (Wnt) signaling pathway.

Based on positive results from the open-label Phase 1b/2a AMARONE study in patients with diabetic macular edema (DME) and neovascular age-related macular degeneration (NVAMD), Restoret is scheduled to advance into a pivotal Phase 2b/3 trial to evaluate its potential for the treatment of patients with DME in the second half of 2024, the company said.

Under the terms of the agreement, Merck, through a subsidiary, has acquired all outstanding shares of EyeBio, the announcement said. As previously disclosed, this transaction is being accounted for as an asset acquisition. Merck said it will record a charge of approximately $1.3 billion in the third quarter of 2024, which will be included in non-GAAP results. As a matter of policy, Merck said it provides updates to its financial outlook once each quarter and will provide an update to its full-year financial outlook when it reports second-quarter 2024 results on July 30.

According to the announcement, additional pipeline candidates include clinical and preclinical assets being developed for the prevention and treatment of vision loss associated with retinal vascular leakage, a known risk factor for retinal diseases.