en.Wedoany.com Reported - Everest Medicines (HKEX 1952.HK) announced that it has entered into an asset purchase agreement with Corxel Pharmaceuticals Limited to acquire the rights to develop, manufacture, and commercialize LNZ100, a presbyopia treatment eye drop, in Greater China. Everest Medicines will pay an upfront payment and potential development milestone payments, and will assume the rights and obligations under the LENZ license agreement signed by Corxel in April 2022, along with related ancillary agreements.
LNZ100 is a once-daily prescription eye drop for the treatment of presbyopia. Its active ingredient, aceclidine, is a small-molecule acetylcholine receptor agonist that improves near vision by inducing pupil constriction (miosis), creating a pinhole effect. Aceclidine's mechanism of action is pupil-selective, avoiding the impairment of distance vision known as myopic shift.
Yifang Wu, Chairman of the Board of Everest Medicines, stated that the acquisition of LNZ100 is a significant step in advancing the company's strategic focus in ophthalmology, as the product offers differentiated clinical value and commercial potential. With the growing presbyopia patient population and the substantial unmet need for non-invasive treatment options, LNZ100 is expected to provide patients with a novel non-invasive treatment choice.
Ms. Sandy Mou, Executive Director and CEO of the Board of Corxel Pharmaceuticals, expressed confidence that Everest Medicines' strong commercialization capabilities will accelerate LNZ100's market access, bringing this innovative treatment to more presbyopia patients in China.
LNZ100 was approved in the United States in July 2025 and commercially launched in October of the same year. In China, a New Drug Application for LNZ100 was submitted in September 2025, with approval expected in the first quarter of 2027. The China National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) accepted the application based on data from a Phase III clinical trial in China. The study was a Phase III, multicenter, randomized, double-blind, vehicle-controlled trial, including a 4-week efficacy study followed by a 6-month extension safety study, enrolling a total of 300 subjects.
Results showed that LNZ100 met its primary endpoint and key secondary endpoints, achieving statistically significant improvements in near vision (three lines or more) under best-corrected distance visual acuity, while maintaining best distance vision. At 30 minutes, 84% and 69% of subjects achieved improvements of two lines and three lines or more, respectively; at 3 hours post-treatment, 88% and 74% of subjects achieved improvements of two lines and three lines or more, respectively; at 10 hours, 61% and 30% of subjects achieved improvements of two lines and three lines or more, respectively. LNZ100 was well tolerated, with no treatment-related serious adverse events observed in the trial.
Presbyopia is an age-related physiological condition that typically begins around age 38, with a prevalence approaching 100% by age 52 in China. Currently, no drugs are approved for the treatment of presbyopia in China, leaving a significant unmet medical need for non-invasive, safe, effective, and reversible presbyopia treatments.
LNZ100 eye drops were developed by LENZ Therapeutics, and Corxel obtained the rights to develop and commercialize them in Greater China in April 2022. Following this transaction, Corxel's pipeline will be fully focused on cardiometabolic therapies, with the proceeds from the transaction used to accelerate the global clinical development of its innovative cardiometabolic pipeline.
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