DURHAM – Aerie Pharmaceuticals is seeking to bolster is pipeline of eye disease treatments by acquiring Avizorex Pharma in a deal valued at $10 million plus additional payments such as royalties in the future.

Avizorex, which is based in Spain, has a potential drug in Stage 2 clinical trial development for the treatment of dry eye. The deal also includes rights to other compounds.

“This acquisition bolsters our pipeline with a clinical-stage dry eye product candidate, and we are excited to expand our footprint in ophthalmology,” said Vicente Anido, Jr., Chairman and Chief Executive Officer at Aerie.

“This product has a novel mechanism-of-action for treating dry eye and we believe that, if approved, it could nicely complement the currently approved drugs for this indication. Since the majority of our efforts in 2020 will be focused on supportive non-clinical studies, we do not currently expect to meaningfully increase our R&D expenditures next year.”

Aerie trades on the Nasdaq under the symbol AERI.