QLT has signed an exclusive option agreement with Mati Therapeutics, granting it a 90-day option to acquire assets related to QLT's punctal plug drug delivery system (PPDS) technology for $500,000.
The agreement will allow the company rights to buy the assets of QLT’s punctal plug system, which is used to deliver a variety of drugs to the eye.
Mati can also extend the option for up to three successive 30-day periods by paying an additional $100,000 for each extension.
Mati,on availing the option to extend the agreement, will allow the companies to enter into an asset purchase agreement as well as entitle QLT to a closing payment of $750,000, certain milestone payments and a low single digit royalty on global net sales of all products using or developed from the PPDS technology.
QLT’s technology is a minimally invasive drug delivery system to deliver variety of drugs to the eye through controlled sustained release to the tear film.
QLT board of directors chairman Jason Aryeh said among the goals the board set for QLT in July, the divestiture of company’s punctal plug technology was an identifiable measure to rationalize and refocuse the company’s strategy on synthetic oral retinoid program.
”Unfortunately our efforts to recapture value for QLT’s PPDS have only yielded a tiny fraction of the nearly $140 million of shareholder capital spent by the former team on the program,” Aryeh added.
”Hopefully, Mr. Butchofsky’s extensive experience with and passion for the punctal plug delivery system put him in the best position to realize potential future value from this program, if acquired, and therefore recapture some tangible value from QLT’s ongoing financial interest in the Technology.”
QLT is a development company related to Robert Butchofsky, QLT’s former president and CEO.