$500m for Ista

US eye drug company Bausch & Lomb has signed a cash deal to buy US drugmaker Ista Pharmaceuticals for $9.10 per share, equivalent to $500 million. Ista currently sells four products, including treatments for eye inflammation, pain brought on by cataract surgery, glaucoma and conjunctivitis. The two companies know each other well: Bausch & Lomb already manufactures most of the products Ista sells in the US. The deal follows a hostile bid from Canadian pharma company Valeant, which put forward a $7.50 per share cash deal, worth $410 million, in January but later took itself out of the bidding citing ‘lack of progress’.