bausch  lomb corporation blco has agreed to acquire front of eye ophthalmology assets for 175 billion in upfront cash plus additional milestone payments from novartis ag nvs marking the first significant move by ceo brent saunders since his return to bausch  lomb in march of this year the deal includes xiidra an eye drop for dry eye symptoms investigational medicine saf312 libvatrep for chronic ocular surface pain the rights for the use of the acustream delivery device in dry eye indications and ojl332 a secondgeneration trpv1 antagonist in preclinical development novartis will receive milestone payments of up to 750 million linked to anticipated future sales for xiidra saf312 and ojl332 the acquisition of xiidra is expected to bolster bauschs stake in the profitable and expanding dryeye market which affects approximately 16 million people in the us wsj was the first to report the potential acquisition the global dryeye market is projected to exceed 10 billion in 2030 up from 55 billion the previous year wsj reported citing grand view research saunders led bausch  lomb between 20102013 before its 87 billion sale to valeant pharmaceuticals international he then spearheaded several deals at forest laboratories including the 66 billion purchase of botox maker allergan in 2015 making it one of the industrys largest companies saunders served as allergans ceo until its 63 billion acquisition by abbvie inc abbv in 2020 xiidra generated 487 million in sales in fy22 and is expected to help boost bauschs revenue the company forecasts total fy23 sales of 39395 billion related inflationary factors and slow product uptake could be headwinds for bausch  lomb analyst says xiidra will compete against restasis a dryeye drug saunders oversaw at allergan which had 666 million in sales for abbvie last year along with its generic versions bausch plans to sell xiidra alongside a new prescription dryeye treatment called miebo approved in may which operates differently and targets a different aspect of the disease the goal at bausch is to stimulate growth the companys revenue of 38 billion last year remained largely unchanged from the previous year the company is being spun out of a larger healthcare firm bausch health companies inc bhc previously part of valeant price action blco shares are up 501 at 2014 during the premarket session on the last check friday