New Company Eyconis Formed to Develop Ascendis Pharma's Ophthalmology Assets

Denmark’s Ascendis Pharma announced Jan. 29 that it had founded Eyconis, a separate company to develop and commercialize its ophthalmic assets globally.

The company is launching with a $150 million commitment from investors, including Frazier Life Sciences and RA Capital Management.

Eyconis will be led by ophthalmology industry veteran Emmett Cunningham, MD, PhD, MPH, as executive chairman. Eyconis will initially be based in Redwood City, California, and certain employees of Ascendis are expected to join the newly formed company.

Ascendis is developing TransCon—or transient conjugation—technology, which temporarily links an inert carrier to a parent drug. Depending on the carrier used, TransCon prodrugs can be designed to act either systemically or locally.

Ascendis markets Skytrofa, formerly TransCon hGH, a weekly injection for children with growth hormone deficiency.

The pipeline on Ascendis’ website lists TransCon RBZ, a formulation of ranibizumab in preclinical study for wet age-related macular degeneration, designed for higher efficacy and six-month dosing intervals.

Ascendis has granted Eyconis exclusive rights to develop and commercialize TransCon ophthalmology products globally and received an equity stake in the newly formed company. In addition, Ascendis will be eligible to receive development, regulatory, and sales milestone payments of up to $248 million, plus single-digit royalties on global net sales of any commercialized products.