Oculis adds to ophthalmology pipeline with Accure deal

Privately-held Swiss ophthalmology company Oculis and private Spanish translational neuroscience R&D firm Accure Therapeutics have announced a licensing agreement.

The deal will see Oculis granted exclusive global rights to develop and commercialize ACT-01, a potentially disease-modifying therapy to protect and prevent damage to the optic nerve and retina.

"Promising early data and potential in a number of ocular disease indications"ACT-01, which is being renamed OCS-05, is a first-in-class small molecule with neuroprotective activity that has shown positive results in animal models of neuroinflammation and neurodegeneration. Its mechanism of action is related to the activation of the trophic factor pathways such as IGF-1 and BDNF.