Equinox Sciences Expands Vorolanib Opthalmology Collaboration with Eyepoint Pharmaceuticals

Betta Pharmaceuticals signs exclusive EYP-1901 licensing agreement with EyePoint Pharmaceuticals May 4, 2022, PALM BEACH GARDENS, F L. Equinox Sciences , LLC (“Equinox”) today announced that its affiliate Betta Pharmaceuticals has signed an expanded license agreement with EyePoint Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: EYPT, hereinafter referred to as "EyePoint") on EYP-1901. Betta Pharmaceuticals will develop and commercialize EYP-1901 in the greater China region, including Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan, while EyePoint is responsible for EYP-1901 development and commercialization in the rest of the world. Equinox signed an exclusive licensing agreement in February 2020 to grant EyePoint the exclusive rights to develop voro lanib for all ophthalmic indications, using EyePoint’s local delivery technologies, outside of China. “Through the collaboration with Equinox, we were able to combine our unique local delivery technologies with vorolanib to develop EYP-1901, which showed exciting potentials in our phase I studies,” said Nancy Lurker, President and CEO of EyePoint. “This expanded partnership with Betta enables us to accelerate EYP-1901’s clinical development as we build our strategic reach into the critically important region of China. With Betta’s proven execution in the Chinese market, we are confident they will continue to be a strong partner as we work to bring this potentially best -in-class treatment to patients sufferin g from serious eye diseases all around the world. In addition, we are very pleased that we have expanded the right of vorolanib for the treatment of ophthalmic diseases and look forward to exploring more indications for EYP -1901 in the future." “In both the U.S. and China, wet AMD is a leading cause of blindness, and EyePoint’s sustained intraocular drug delivery technology represents a potentially paradigm-shifting innovation in our efforts to treat this debilitating eye disease,” said Lieming Ding, M.D., Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Betta Pharmaceuticals. “We are excited to expand our existing partnership with EyePoint on their leading pipeline of retinal -focused medicines . We look forward to working together with EyePoint to provide more treatment options for patients with severe eye diseases." About EyePoint EyePoint Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: EYPT) is a pharmaceutical company committed to developing and commercializing therapeutics to help improve the lives of patients with serious eye disorders. The Company's pipeline leverages its proprietary Durasert® technology for sustained intraocular drug delivery including EYP -1901, an investigational sustained delivery intravitreal anti - VEGF treatment initially targeting wet age -related macular deg eneration. The proven Durasert drug delivery platform has been safely administered to thousands of patients' eyes across four U.S. FDA approved products, including YUTIQ® for the treatment of chronic non -infectious uveitis affecting the posterior segment o f the eye, which is currently marketed by the Company. EyePoint Pharmaceuticals is headquartered in Watertown, Massachusetts About Betta Pharmaceuticals Betta Pharmaceuticals Co., Ltd. (SZ300558), established in 2003 in Hangzhou, China, is one of the leading Chinese pharmaceutical companies dedicated to develop and commercialize innovative therapeutics to meet high unmet medical needs in China. With two R&D sites located in Hangzhou and Beijing, China, Betta’s development capabilities range from small molecule and biologics discovery, clinical development, registration, manufacturing, sales and marketing. Betta’s leading product – icotinib (Conmana®) that treats non-small cell lung cancer patients carrying EGFR mutations – was the first innovative oncology product developed and commercially launched by a Chinese pharmaceutical company. Betta has two additional oncology commercial products launched in China – the ALK kinase inhibitor ensartinib and the bevacizumab biosimilar MIL60. Betta’s current pipelin e consists of more than 15 clinical-staged projects spanning from small molecule targeted therapy to immunotherapeutics that target oncology and ophthalmology indications. Betta is the majority shareholder of Xcovery Holdings, Inc. and has ongoing collaborations with Merus (MRUS) and Agenus (AGEN). For additional information, please visit http://www.bettapharma.com/en.php. About Vorolanib Vorolanib is a next generation, small molecule, multi-target kinase inhibitor currently being studied for various solid tumor indications as an oral agent . Vorolanib has demonstrated promising safety and efficacy as a monotherapy or in combination with other anti -cancer agents. In January 2022, Betta Pharmaceuticals submitted a market authorization application to China’s NMPA for vorolanib in combination with everolimus for patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma (RCC). Betta Pharmaceuticals owns all vorolanib rights inside of China, while Equinox owns the rights of the compound in the rest of the world outside of China. About EYP-1901 EYP-1901 is being developed as an investigational sustained delivery treatment, initially in wet age -related macular degeneration (wet AMD), combining a bio degradable formulation of EyePoint's proprietary Durasert® delivery technology with vorolanib, a tyrosine kinase inhibitor. Positive interim eight-month safety and efficacy data from the ongoing DAVIO Phase 1 clinical trial of EYP-1901 show no reports of ocular or drug-related systemic SAEs and no dose limiting toxicities with stable visual acuity and OCT. Further, 53% and 41% of eyes did not require any supplemental anti -VEGF injections up to six and nine months, respectively, following a single dose of EYP -1901. Phase 2 clinical trials are planned for wet AMD in Q3 2022 and in diabetic retinopathy in 2H 2022. Vorolanib is licensed to EyePoint exclusively by Equinox Sciences for the localized treatment of all ophthalmic diseases, including diabetic macular edema.

The release as fetched from its publisher. xcovery.com ↗