Valeant Pharmaceuticals International will continue to be part of Orange County’s life science sector—albeit in a different form.
The Canadian-based drug maker’s eye surgical business, which employs some 150 people, has completed its move from Aliso Viejo to an office in the Irvine Spectrum.
“We still have a presence—we consolidated into the old Ista [Pharmaceuticals Inc.] building,” company spokesperson Laurie Little said.
Ista was an eye drug maker that Rochester, N.Y.-based diversified eye health company Bausch + Lomb Inc. bought for $500 million in 2012. Bausch had built its OC eye-surgery hub through a 2008 buy of Eyeonics Inc. in Aliso Viejo.
Valeant bought Bausch for $8.7 billion last year.
There are an estimated 150 workers in Valeant’s new location, Little said, and the company’s eye surgery unit will remain there for the time being.
Its products include the enVista and Crystalens replacement intraocular lenses; Storz, a line of ophthalmic instruments; Stellaris, a device for vitreoretinal and cataract surgeries; and Victus, a femtosecond laser for cataract, vision correction and therapeutic procedures.
Valeant’s eye surgery division was previously at 30 Enterprise in Aliso Viejo when it was part of Bausch. Drug maker Avanir Pharmaceuticals Inc. is replacing Valeant at that location.
Valeant has its roots in Costa Mesa-based ICN Pharmaceuticals Inc., founded in the early 1960s by immigrant and former Serbian prime minister Milan Panic. ICN changed its name to Valeant in 2003 after activist shareholders forced out Panic.
Canadian drug maker Biovail Corp. bought Valeant, which had moved from Costa Mesa to Aliso Viejo, in 2010 for $3.2 billion and took on the Valeant name.
The current Valeant, which had a recent market value of $43 billion and annual sales of $3.5 billion, has also widened its presence in New Jersey, another historical life science center and now the main office for U.S. operations.
The drug maker started changing up its Southern California operations last summer after it closed its purchase of Bausch in August.
Departures
A consolidation included employee departures, including top executives. John Barr, who headed the Aliso Viejo surgical hub, was one of 11 Bausch and Valeant executives who left after Valeant bought Bausch.
Valeant Chief Executive J. Michael Pearson said in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing last year that it was going to “eliminate the global structure and to reduce significantly the regional structure currently in place at Bausch + Lomb.”
The two companies had about 18,000 workers between them, according to federal filings.
Valeant is starting its first full year with Bausch in its fold—and the combined operations are expected to generate $4 billion to $5 billion in annual revenue.
Blog
Financial blog Liston Street Pulse mentioned in a recent article that the global eye surgery market is expected to reach $9 billion by 2017.
“Cataract surgery continues to represent [a] majority of the market, driving growth opportunity for [the] intraocular lens and laser assisted surgery market,” Liston Street wrote.
The blog also noted that Bausch expects to have sales of $650 million to $750 million by 2015.
