an antisense oligonucleotide candidate ayear earlier (Table 1). RNAi therapeutics inApril 2019and Ionis’ on with Roche pact Regeneron—the highest in valuerecent deal years—to develop are pursued, being also illustrated by Alnylam’s $1billion with deal Therapeutics after soon (Table 2). Nucleic therapies acid-based acquired Spark in2019,and , which acquired Nightstar approaches to treat ophthalmic including diseases, Roche, which blindness in2017,more companies are exploring Luxturna (voretigene neparvovec) for arare of inherited type Food and Administration Drug approved Spark Therapeutics’ illustrating push the for therapies new area. inthis Since US the ofhalf were these made at platform/discovery the stage 1), (Fig. have to signed target been ophthalmic and more diseases, than values.with high past the 5years, During more than 100deals made ophthalmology inthe field, providing details of those (Tabledeals 1)and mergers and acquisitions (M&As) (Table 2) With help the of DealForma, in datathis page we atlook recent Biopharma Dealmakers in recent dealsrelated to potential treatments for ophthalmicdiseases. Approaches suchasgene therapy andnucleicacid-basedtherapies are emerging Partnering to improve vision AMD, age-related macular degeneration; ENaC,epithelialsodiumchannel;IGF-1R, insulin-like growth factor 1receptor; n/a, notavailable. Source: DealForma April2021. Table 1|Selected high-value dealsinophthalmologyfrom 2017–2021 Regeneron Pharmaceuticals , Companies 1and2 Merck &Co. KalVista Pharmaceuticals, Roche , Shire (Takeda) Parion Sciences, Boehringer Ingelheim CDR-Life, Janssen Pharmaceuticals MeiraGTx Holding, Biogen (formerly Biogen Idec) Catalyst Biosciences, jCyte Santen Pharmaceutical, Therapeutics,Halozyme Date April 2019 2017 October 2018 October May 2017 May 2020 2019 January 2019 December May 2020 2020 November payment)($ million) Total dealvalue (upfront 1,035 (800) 761 (37) 760 (75) 535 (20) 487 (n/a) 340 (100) 355 (15) 190 (62) 190 (30) Platform/discovery Fig. 1|Numberofophthalmologydealsby stage ofdevelopment from 2017–2021 Diagnostic/device Table 2|Selected high-value M&Asinophthalmologyfrom 2017–2021 March 2019 March 2019 February 2019 Date Preclinical/IND Deal headline neurologic andophthalmicdiseases. Alnylam partnerswithRegeneron for thedevelopment ofRNAitherapeutics for development for thetreatment ofdiabetic macularedema. KalVista signsoptiondealwithMerck for KVD-001, aplasmakallikrein inhibitor in treatment ofgeographic atrophy, alate stage ofdryAMD. oligonucleotide drugtargeting factor B,IONIS-FB-LRx,includingaphase 2studyfor the Ionis agrees to collaborate withRoche ontheclinicaldevelopment ofitsantisense dry eye disease. Parion partnerswithShire incollaborative license dealfor P-321, an ENaC inhibitor for fragment-based therapeutics targeting geographic atrophy. CDR-Life joinsforces withBoehringer for thedevelopment ofCDR-Life’s antibody therapies for inherited retinal diseases. MeiraGTx partnerswithJanssen (Johnson &Johnson)onthe development ofgene complement factor C3-inactivating protease, for thetreatment ofgeographiccomplement atrophy. Catalyst partnerswithBiogen to develop andcommercialize pegylated CB2782, a therapy candidate for retinitis pigmentosa. Santen signsdevelopment andcommercialization dealwith jCyte for jCell, aphase2cell monoclonal antibodyagainst IGF-1R thatisapproved for thyroid eye disease. technology to enablethesubcutaneousformulation ofTepezza (teprotumumab), a Horizon Therapeutics signsdealwithHalozyme to license theirENHANZE drugdelivery Not disclosed Approved Phase 2 Phase 3 Phase 1 0 () Biogen Roche Buyer 10 www.nature.com/biopharmdeal |June 2021 | PowerVision Nightstar Therapeutics Spark Therapeutics Purchase 20 30 Total deals=107 Value ($million) 285 800 4,300 FEATURE 40 B29 50 Credit: Andrey Volodin / Alamy Stock Photo