Press Release
Nicox Announces up to €3 million in Milestone Payments from Kowa in 2025 as NCX 470 Prepares to Enter Phase 3 Clinical Trials in Japan
* Exclusive Japanese partner Kowa has received regulatory approval to initiate Phase 3 clinical trials on NCX 470 for the treatment of ocular hypertension in Japan
* Milestone payments from Kowa totaling €3 million expected to be received by Nicox in 2025
* Extends Nicox’s cash runway until the end of 2025
May 27, 2025 – release at 7:30 am CET Sophia Antipolis, France Nicox SA (Euronext Growth Paris: FR0013018124, ALCOX), an international ophthalmology company, today announced that its exclusive Japanese partner for NCX 470, Kowa, has received Clinical Trial Notification (equivalent of a U.S. Investigational New Drug, IND) approval to initiate Phase 3 clinical trials on NCX 470 for the treatment of ocular hypertension in Japan, triggering a €1 million milestone payment to Nicox. The clinical trials are
expected to be initiated in H2 2025, which would trigger a second milestone payment of €2 million. “ This important achievement, which enables the initiation of phase 3 clinical development of NCX 470 for Japanese patients, demonstrates the effective collaboration established between the Kowa and Nicox teams and represents a significant advance by Kowa in the delivery of their accelerated development plan. As a result, we expect to receive a total of €3 million in development milestones from Kowa in 2025,
extending our cash runway until at least the end of 2025 . ” said Gavin Spencer, Chief Executive Officer of Nicox. “ We congratulate our Japanese partner on the swift progress and look forward to continuing to work with them to bring NCX 470 to the Japanese market. ” Cash Runway Based on the current cash position, estimated revenue and anticipated milestone payments (including the Kowa milestones mentioned above) Nicox now estimates that it is financed until the end of 2025. If any of the assumptions
around estimated income or costs change, this may impact the cash runway of the Company. Key Future Milestones * Denali Phase 3 clinical trial evaluating NCX 470 in patients with open-angle glaucoma or ocular hypertension: Topline results are expected in the third quarter of 2025
* NCX 470 Phase 3 clinical trial in Japan: Initiation expected in H2 2025
Kowa NCX 470 License Nicox licensed the rights to develop and commercialize NCX 470 in Japan to Kowa in February 2024. Nicox may receive a further €7 million in development and regulatory milestones, up to €17.5 million in sales milestones and tiered royalties from 7% to 12% on net sales of NCX 470 in Japan. Kowa is responsible for all development, regulatory and commercialization costs for NCX 470 in Japan. About NCX 470 NCX 470, Nicox’s lead clinical product candidate, is a novel NO-donating
bimatoprost eye drop, currently in Phase 3 clinical development for the lowering of IOP in patients with open-angle glaucoma or ocular hypertension. Results of Mont Blanc, the first of the two Phase 3 clinical trials, have been extensively published (
Portfolio and Disease Areas - Nicox are available on our website. The second Phase 3 clinical trial, Denali, is currently ongoing. The last American patient in Denali has completed their final visit, with Chinese patients
completing theirs, and the results are expected in Q3 2025. Mont Blanc and Denali have been designed to fulfil the regulatory requirements for safety and efficacy Phase 3 trials to support NDA submissions in both the U.S. and in China, where NCX 470 is exclusively licensed to Ocumension Therapeutics. NCX 470 is also licensed exclusively to Kowa for Japan.