Kala Pharmaceuticals Announces Commercial Availability of Eysuvis for the Treatment of Dry Eye Disease
Kala Pharmaceuticals announced the launch of Eysuvis (loteprednol etabonate ophthalmic suspension) 0.25% for the short-term (up to 2 weeks) treatment of the signs and symptoms of dry eye disease. Eysuvis is now available in national and regional U.S. pharmaceutical distribution centers. Patients with a prescription can access Eysuvis through their local retail pharmacies or through home delivery.
To view EyewireTV’s coverage of the FDA approval of Eysuvis, click here.
Kala has completed the hiring and onboarding of its expanded ophthalmology sales force, which now consists of 91 sales professionals calling on eye care professionals, including ophthalmologists and optometrists. The company plans to expand its sales force to approximately 125 sales representatives in 2021, pending the status of the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, Kala’s payor account team is actively engaged in contract discussions with Commercial and Medicare Part D health plans.
“We are excited to announce our second product launch in 2 years, with Eysuvis now available in the United States as the first approved prescription therapy specifically indicated for the short-term treatment of dry eye disease,” Mark Iwicki, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Kala Pharmaceuticals, said in a company news release. “We are looking forward to bringing this important new therapy to the millions of dry eye disease patients who suffer from episodic flares but did not have an FDA-approved rapid-acting, prescription treatment option prior to Eysuvis. As we execute against our strategy to establish Eysuvis as the preferred, first-line prescription therapy for dry eye disease, we continue to promote Inveltys as the first and only twice daily corticosteroid for postoperative inflammation and pain following ocular surgery, while also advancing Kala’s next wave of preclinical development programs in our pipeline.”
Kala is progressing its pipeline of preclinical development programs targeted to address front and back of the eye diseases. These programs, all of which are new chemical entities (NCEs), include: (1) a receptor Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitor program (rTKI), for the treatment of retinal diseases, including wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD); (2) selective glucocorticoid receptor modulators (SEGRMs), which are a novel class of therapies designed to modify the downstream activity of the receptors to exhibit the anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory properties of corticosteroids while potentially avoiding the typical safety concerns of steroids; and (3) novel steroids designed to target the ocular surface and thus have the potential to be a safer alternative to traditional topical steroids. Kala owns all intellectual property and worldwide rights to these pipeline candidates.