Bausch & Lomb Inc. signaled a continuing commitment to Orange County after closing its $500 million deal for Irvine-based drug maker Ista Pharmaceuticals Inc., but that won’t include a familiar face.
Shareholders of Ista, a maker of eye drugs, approved the sale to Bausch, a diversified eye-products company based in Rochester, N.Y., on June 5. The deal closed the next day.
Ista’s longtime chief executive—Vince Anido, who led the sale to Bausch—resigned upon the completion of the transaction.
“Vince has chosen to move on now that the deal has closed,” spokesperson Teresa Panos said.
Anido is eligible to receive $1.9 million in “additional termination benefits,” according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing.
Anido also holds a total of 1.893 million vested and unvested stock options with a value of $8.4 million as of March 24, the filing shows.
Integration
Bausch’s integration of Ista is being led by Dan Wechsler, an executive vice president and president of the global pharmaceutical business. Management from both companies will be involved in the integration, officials said.
Bausch’s global surgical business is based in Aliso Viejo, with 160 workers. Its global drug business is headquartered in Madison, N.J.
“Our pharmaceutical business will have a presence in Orange County now that the deal is closed,” Panos said. “There will likely be some consolidation of our facilities, but it is too soon to say exactly how.”
The acquisition of Ista “strengthens our pharmaceutical business’ ability to deliver even more meaningful advances to the many physicians and patients we serve,” she said.
Bausch has more than $2 billion in annual revenue. It estimates the Ista deal will add another $150 million.
Ista gives Bausch four prescription drugs: Bromday for post-cataract surgical inflammation and pain, Bepreve for eye allergies, Istalol for glaucoma and Vitrase, a spreading agent for other drugs.
The addition of Ista’s drug candidates in various stages of development “nearly doubles the number of mid- to late-stage innovations” in its standalone eye drug pipeline, Bausch said.
Ista’s drugs in development include variants of Bepreve for nasal allergies; Prolensa, which also treats pain after cataract surgery; and T-Pred, a steroid.
Bausch competes in various eye categories with Irvine drug maker Allergan Inc., Anido’s former employer; Abbott Medical Optics Inc., a Santa Ana business unit of Abbott Park, Ill.-based Abbott Laboratories; and Alcon Inc., which has about 800 workers in Irvine.
Bausch named medical-device company executive John Barr as global president of its surgical business last month. Barr will be responsible for Bausch’s eye surgery products, intraocular lenses and delivery systems.
Barr succeeds Robert Grant, who left to establish Strathspey Crown LLC, a private equity fund that will invest in unsubsidized healthcare businesses.
Growing Market
The eye-drug market is expected to reach $17 billion worldwide by 2015, according to market tracker Global Industry Analysts Inc. of San Jose.
Ista was founded in 1992 as Advanced Corneal Systems. It changed its name to Ista in early 2000 and went public later the same year.
The company had about 330 workers before its sale, with the vast majority in sales, according to Bausch.
Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc., a Canadian company with Orange County roots, made two runs at Ista before the Bausch deal emerged. Valeant first offered about $328 million for Ista.
Ista hired Greenhill & Co., a New York-based investment bank, to pursue options in the wake of its rejection of Valeant’s first bid.
Anido said then that Ista’s board “took into consideration” what he called Valeant’s “threat, repeated by your financial advisors, to move unilaterally and make an offer directly to our shareholders–a move which could obviously be destabilizing to our employees and our business.”
Valeant said it wanted to acquire Ista to spur growth of its “smaller ophthalmology operations.”
Valeant eventually withdrew a final offer for Ista valued at $360 million.
