pSivida Corp. (PSDV)

pSivida Corp. developed sustained-release drug delivery products for eye diseases. Its core technology, Durasert, is a tiny implant placed in the eye that releases medicine over months or years. Products based on its technology included Retisert and Iluvien, which treat chronic eye inflammation and diabetic macular edema and were sold by partners under license. These partners paid it royalties on sales.

The company had its origins in Australia and later redomiciled to the United States, with headquarters in Watertown, Massachusetts. Its shares traded on Nasdaq under PSDV. For years most of its income came from royalties and license fees, while it worked to bring its own product to market for chronic non-infectious uveitis affecting the back of the eye. That product was based on its Durasert technology.

In March 2018 pSivida bought Icon Bioscience, a privately held company whose lead product, a single-dose dexamethasone injection for inflammation after cataract surgery, had just been approved by the FDA as Dexycu. The purchase was funded with $61 million in equity from EW Healthcare Partners and another investor plus a $20 million debt facility. The deal gave the company a second near-term product.

With the deal, the company announced on March 29, 2018 that it was renaming itself EyePoint Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Its shares began trading on Nasdaq as EYPT on April 2, 2018. EyePoint went on to launch its uveitis implant as Yutiq and later focused on an extended-release treatment for wet age-related macular degeneration. Shareholders kept their existing shares, which simply traded under the new name.