Pfenex, a San Diego, California-based clinical-stage biotechnology company, has announced that it will regain the full rights to PF582, a biosimilar candidate to Roche's Lucentis (ranibizumab), an eye-care drug for treating wet-age macular degeneration. Lucentis had 2015 sales of CHF 1.52 billion ($1.55 billion).

Pfenex has said it will consider strategic options for PF582 following the transition of the full development program back to Pfenex. Pfenex originally formed a collaboration with Hospira, a Lake Forrest, Illinois-based provider of injectable drugs and infusion technologies, in February 2015 to exclusively develop and commercialize PF582 for worldwide sales in a deal worth up to $342 million. In September 2015, Hospira was acquired by Pfizer.

Source: Pfenex