The price tag includes $62.5 million upfront for all U.S.rights and available inventories for Visudyne, which had U.S. revenue ofapproximately $21 million in 2011, and another $50 million upfront for rightsto non-U.S. royalties on Visudyne sales, which were approximately $14 millionin 2011.
In addition to the Visudyne monies, Valeant has also agreedto pay an additional $5 million in contingent payments relating to thedevelopment of QLT's laser program in the United States and as much as $15million in contingent payments relating to the non-U.S. royalties.
The transaction is expected to be immediately accretive forValeant.
"We are excited about the opportunity to add acomplementary product to our growing ophthalmology business," said J.Michael Pearson, chairman and CEO of Valeant. "Not only will we be able to use Visudyne to better leverage ourcurrent ophthalmology sales force with a complementary product to Macugen, weare pleased to add a product that retinal specialists around the county can useas an adjunctive to products like Macugen to improve treatment options."
For his part, Jason M. Aryeh, chairman of QLT, noted that"The board is pleased to have executed on a key strategic objective andcompleted a transaction that is in the best interests of the company and itsshareholders. We look forward to returning capital to shareholders in the mostefficient manner and to maximize the potential of our synthetic oral retinoidprogram…we are confident that Valeant is the right company to continue offeringVisudyne in the U.S. as an important treatment option to patients."
