Akorn enters agreement to acquire minority ownership in Aciex

Akorn, Inc. (NASDAQ:AKRX), a niche specialty pharmaceutical company, today announced that it has entered into an agreement to acquire a minority ownership in Westborough, MA, based Aciex Therapeutics Inc., an ophthalmic drug development company with a focus on developing novel therapeutics to treat ocular diseases. Aciex's pipeline consists of both clinical stage assets and pre-IND stage assets. In addition, Akorn signed a global licensing agreement for a novel over-the-counter eye care product and manufacturing agreement for one of Aciex's lead prescription products.

Raj Rai, Chief Executive Officer commented, "We are excited to partner with Aciex and have the opportunity to bring novel over-the-counter and prescription eye care products to the market. With this partnership, we have rounded out our strategy in ophthalmology to include generics, branded and over-the-counter pharmaceuticals."

Les Kaplan, Ph.D., Executive Chairman of Aciex Therapeutics, Inc., stated: "Aciex is excited to have Akorn as a strategic investor in our company. Along with capital, they bring complementary expertise that we believe will help accelerate the development of our pipeline of innovative ophthalmic products".