A medical technology company founded by Queen’s University academics has signed a licensing agreement with a major pharmaceutical firm which could ultimately be worth up to $1bn (£744.1m).
Re-Vana Therapeutics, which was set up in 2016, develops products to improve the delivery of drugs for chronic eye diseases, increasing the quality of care for patients.
The major benefit of its technology is that it reduces the number of eye injections patients require making them more likely to follow their treatment.
Boehringer Ingelheim, a German pharmaceutical firm, is licensing the drug delivery system to combine it with its eye medications.
The German firm will take responsibility for regulatory approvals and global commercialization of products developed using the Re-Vana technology.
Boehringer Ingelheim said the deal involves “upfront, development, regulatory and commercial milestone payments to Re-Vana, with total potential deal value exceeding $1bn for the initial three targets, in addition to royalty payments on net sales”.
Re-Vana was founded by Professor Raj Thakur and Professor David Jones with investors including Qubis, the commercialisation arm of Queen’s University.
The company is now based in the US but still has its research base in Belfast.
Michael O’Rourke, Re-Vana’s Chief Executive Officer, said the collaboration with Boehringer Ingelheim is a “transformational moment”.
The deal has also been welcomed by NI Secretary of State Hillary Benn who said it “represents a huge vote of confidence in Northern Ireland’s innovation and skills”.
