Wednesday, February 20, 2008

pSivida gets first milestone payment from Pfizer

Drug delivery technology company pSivida Ltd. reports it has received $500,000 as a first quarterly research and development payment from a collaboration and license deal with Pfizer Inc.

New York-based Pfizer and pSivida (Nasdaq: PSDV), an Austrian biotechnology firm with U.S. offices in Watertown, entered into the exclusive worldwide agreement in April 2007 for pSivida's controlled drug delivery technologies in ophthalmic applications.

Since that time, pSivida has received $12 million from Pfizer as part of the deal, which could reach $165 million from development and sales related milestones. Part of the $12 million included an equity investment of $5 million, making Pfizer the largest shareholder in the biotech company, holding approximately 10 percent of pSivida's outstanding shares.

PSivida has two treatments for eye conditions already on the market with approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration -- sold as Retisert and Vitrasert by Bausch & Lomb Inc., which licensed the technologies.

For 2007, pSivida reported a net loss of $89.8 million on revenue of $2.4 million.