DURHAM, N.C.—Aerie Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:AERI) announced the signing of an agreement to acquire Avizorex Pharma (AVX), a Spanish ophthalmic pharmaceutical company developing therapeutics for the treatment of dry eye disease. “This acquisition bolsters our pipeline with a clinical-stage dry eye product candidate, and we are excited to expand our footprint in ophthalmology. This product has a novel mechanism-of-action for treating dry eye and we believe that, if approved, it could nicely complement the currently approved drugs for this indication. Since the majority of our efforts in 2020 will be focused on supportive non-clinical studies, we do not currently expect to meaningfully increase our R&D expenditures next year,” said Vicente Anido, Jr., PhD, chairman and chief executive officer at Aerie Pharmaceuticals.

AVX Pharma president and chief executive officer Patrick Tresserras added, “We are thrilled that this transaction will accelerate the development of AVX-012 towards later stage clinical trials. Aerie, as a unique ophthalmology-focused company with a track record of developing and commercializing ophthalmic drugs, is well positioned to fulfill our vision of addressing this indication from a new mode of action for the benefit of millions of patients suffering from dry eye disease.”

Under the terms of the agreement, Aerie will acquire AVX Pharma in an all-cash transaction. Aerie will make an upfront payment of $10 million, subject to customary adjustments, and AVX Pharma shareholders will be eligible to receive additional payments subject to achieving certain clinical and regulatory performance milestones, plus royalties on net sales of approved products from AVX Pharma’s development pipeline. The parties expect to close the acquisition before the end of the year pending the completion of certain pre-closing obligations. Additional information is available at http://investors.aeriepharma.com.