Ardeo licenses Novagali drop

Suwanee, GA-Biopharmaceutical development and licensing company Ardeo Health has reached an agreement with Novagali Pharma S.A. of Evry, France, to license Novagali’s novel Nova23041 dry eye therapy for over-the-counter sale in the United States and Canada.

The drop will target people who have meibomian gland dysfunction (MGD) and evaporative dry eye. It will be marketed and distributed under a brand name (Retaine MGD) under a brand license from OCuSOFT of Richmond, TX. OCuSOFT also will serve as the exclusive distributor under a multi-year agreement between Ardeo and OCuSOFT.

The solution is a preservative-free, oil-in-water emulsion that has been marketed since 2008 in Europe, North Africa, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia under another brand name (Cationorm) that belongs to Novagali Pharma.

Via electrostatic attraction, the positive charge of the drop combines with the negative charge of the corneal epithelium to spread across the entire ocular surface, which improves retention time and reduces the number of drops required each day by patients with MGD and dry eye.