Ophthotech may get over $1 billion from eye drug deal with Novartis

(Reuters) – Ophthotech Corp said it could potentially receive over $1 billion in payments as part of a licensing deal for its experimental eye drug with Novartis AG. The company said on Monday that a unit of Novartis will market its lead experimental eye drug, Fovista, outside the United States. The payments do not include future royalties from sales of the drug outside the United States, the company said. “The deal validates Fovista, while importantly allowing the company to retain and fund the drug’s development and US commercialization,” J.P. Morgan analyst Geoff Meacham said in a note.