Sophia Antipolis, France
Nicox SA (Euronext Paris: FR0013018124, COX), an international ophthalmology company, today announced that it has amended its December 2018 licence agreement with Ocumension Therapeutics, which originally granted Ocumension exclusive rights to develop and commercialize NCX 470 for glaucoma in the Chinese market. Under the amended agreement, Ocumension will immediately pay Nicox €15 million (in place of the milestones in the original agreement), will gain additional rights to NCX 470 for Korea and South East Asia and will pay 50% of the costs of the second glaucoma Phase 3 clinical trial of NCX 470 (‘Denali’). The two companies will jointly manage the Denali trial in the U.S. and China.
NCX 470, a novel second generation nitric oxide (NO)-donating bimatoprost analog for the lowering of intraocular pressure (IOP) in patients with open-angle glaucoma or ocular hypertension, is Nicox’s lead clinical development program. In the multicenter, Phase 2 clinical trial (‘Dolomites’) conducted in the U.S., NCX 470 demonstrated both statistical non-inferiority and superiority to latanoprost, the U.S. market leader in prostaglandin analog prescriptions.
“We believe conducting the Denali Phase 3 trial together will allow both companies to more effectively achieve the development goals for NCX 470,” said Gavin Spencer, Chief Business Officer of Nicox. “Bringing forward the Ocumension milestone payments in this way is a major step in the financing of the U.S. and Chinese NCX 470 programs allowing us to initiate both Phase 3 clinical trials this year and accelerating the NDA submission of NCX 470 in the U.S. and Chinese markets.”
Ocumension is funded by top-tier venture capital investors including 6 Dimensions Capital and other distinguished investors. Ocumension recruited highly qualified management and development teams with significant international experience gained in companies including Santen, Alcon and Novartis. The Ocumension team has conducted ophthalmology clinical studies in China previously and has the