Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, Inc.,a multinational specialty pharmaceutical company, has acquired Visudyne, a drug used to treat abnormal growth of leaky blood vessels in the eye caused by wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD), from QLT Inc. Valeant paid $62.5 million upfront for all US rights and available inventories for Visudyne, which had US revenue of approximately $21 million in 2011, and another $50 million upfront for rights to non-US royalties on Visudyne sales, which were approximately $14 million in 2011.

Valeant has also agreed to pay an additional $5 million in contingent payments relating to the development of QLT's laser programme in the United States and up to $15 million in contingent payments relating to the non-US royalties. Additionally, Valeant has manufacturing rights and assumed a supply agreement for outside of United States. The transaction is expected to be immediately accretive.

"We are excited about the opportunity to add a complementary product to our growing ophthalmology business," stated J Michael Pearson, chairman and chief executive officer. "Not only will we be able to use Visudyne to better leverage our current ophthalmology sales force with a complementary product to Macugen, we are pleased to add a product that retinal specialists around the county can use as an adjunctive to products like Macugen to improve treatment options."

Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, Inc. is a multinational specialty pharmaceutical company that develops, manufactures and markets a broad range of pharmaceutical products primarily in the areas of neurology, dermatology and branded generics.