Nicox to Receive $2 Million from Ocumension Therapeutics as Advance Milestone Payment under ZERVIATE® Agreement
July 5, 2021
Sophia Antipolis, France
Nicox SA (Euronext Paris: FR0013018124, COX), an international ophthalmology company, today announced that it has amended its March 2019 license agreement with Ocumension Therapeutics, under which Ocumension has exclusive rights to develop and commercialize ZERVIATE® (cetirizine ophthalmic solution), 0.24% in the Chinese and the majority of South East Asian markets. Under the amended agreement, Ocumension will immediately pay Nicox $2 million in full advance payment of the future development and regulatory milestones for the product. Amendments were made to certain rights under non-financial clauses of the agreement.
Nicox remains eligible to receive the same sales milestones of up to US$17.2 million together with tiered royalties of between 5% and 9% of net sales of ZERVIATE by Ocumension. ZERVIATE is currently being evaluated in a confirmatory Phase 3 clinical trial in China by Ocumension, to support a Chinese New Drug Application for the treatment of ocular itching associated with allergic conjunctivitis.
ZERVIATE is the first and only topical ocular formulation of the antihistamine cetirizine and has been commercialized in the United States since March 2020 by Nicox’s exclusive U.S. licensee, Eyevance Pharmaceuticals, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Santen (Japan). In addition to Ocumension for the Chinese and the majority South East Asian markets, ZERVIATE is also exclusively licensed to Samil Pharmaceutical in South Korea, to ITROM Pharmaceutical Group in certain Gulf and Arab markets and to Laboratorios Grin for Mexico.