Esteve signs agreement with VSY Biotechnology and enters the market for eye surgery

Esteve has announced the signature of a collaboration agreement with the company VSY Biotechnology to consolidate its growth strategy in the field of ophthalmology, thereby expanding its portfolio with specialized products for eye surgery, specifically relating to cataract surgery. Esteve's R&D Center for Drug Discovery and Preclinical Development is located at the Parc Científic de Barcelona.

This agreement allows Esteve to expand its portfolio in ophthalmology —which already includes products for ocular surface diseases and age-related macular degeneration (AMD)— and to address the surgery sector, where about 350,000 cataract interventions are performed in Spain every year —over 22 million interventions worldwide

Esteve’s short-term strategy consists in expanding the current product portfolio and in diversifying to address new market segments. Our long-term strategy includes the creation of a portfolio of in-house products, and international development.

Esteve’s ophthalmic area, now strengthened by a new surgery team, expects to be present in several European markets by 2020.

According to Esteve’s CEO Albert Esteve, "We want to promote ophthalmology as an area of strategic value. In this context, the agreement with VSY Biotechnology is an important step to meet our strategic growth axes, where we are developing an active policy of partnerships with other companies. "

For his part, Esteve’s Director-General of pharmaceutical activities Joe Sullivan said that “choosing VSY Biotechnology as a partner involves not only accessing a very extensive portfolio of surgical solutions in this sector, but also working with a company that, just like Esteve, strongly supports innovation”.

In the words’s of VSY Biotechnology’s CEO Dr. Ercan Varlıbas, “Our partnership with Esteve, a respectful, ethical and strong company, and the highly innovative products of VSY Biotechnology, this synergy of professionalism and high technology products, will serve for patients in Spain.”

Esteve will add the products of VSY Biotechnology to its portfolio. An benchmark of intraocular lenses, VSY has developed the Acriva Reviol Tri-ED trifocal lens, a key product for the treatment of long-sightedness in cataract surgery. Over the past 5 years, more than 1,400,000 lenses manufactured by VSY Biotechnology have been implanted in patients from over forty countries.

In addition to intraocular lenses, Esteve's portfolio of ophthalmic surgery products will also include viscoelastic devices and balanced salt solutions —both essential cataract surgery products— supplied by the same manufacturer. Other surgical products will be added in the future, such as operating room products, perishable materials, and instruments, thus offering a wide range of solutions in this area.