Sun Pharma debuts dry eye drug Cequa in USA

India's largest drugmaker, Sun Pharmaceutical (BSE: 524715), today said that one of its wholly-owned subsidiaries has commercialized Cequa (cyclosporine ophthalmic solution) 0.09% in the USA, with the news pushing the firm’s shares up 2.2% to 394.80 rupees near close of trading.  
Cequa, which offers the highest concentration of cyclosporine for ophthalmic use approved by the US Food and Drug Administration, is indicated to increase tear production in patients with keratoconjunctivitis sicca (dry eye), an inflammatory disease that afflicts more than 16 million people in the USA. Cequa is the first and only FDA-approved cyclosporine treatment delivered with nanomicellar (NCELL) technology, which helps to improve the bioavailability and physicochemical stability of cyclosporine, resulting in improved ocular tissue penetration. Cequa was approved by the FDA in August 2018.

Hopes to take market share from Restasis and Xiidra

Sun Pharma hopes Cequa can attract a significant portion of the dry eye disease market from popular treatments such as Allergan’s  (NYSE: AGN) blockbuster treatment Restasis (cyclosporine ophthalmic emulsion) or Shire’s Xiidra (lifitegrast), which was approved in 2016, but sold to Novartis (NOVN: VX) for $5,3 billion in July this year by Shire’s new owner, Japan’s Takeda (TYO: 4502).