Nicox Granted New Patent for NCX 470, Extending Exclusivity in Europe to 2039

Nicox announced that the European Patent Office has granted a formulation patent for NCX 470, extending the European exclusivity to 2039. The equivalent U.S. patent has already been granted, and NCX 470 is also covered by granted composition of matter patents.

“We are pleased that our formulation patent for NCX 470 has been granted in Europe, following the U.S. grant earlier in the year,” Gavin Spencer, Chief Business Officer at Nicox, said in a company news release. “This strengthens our competitive position and provides further protection of this potential best-in-class product candidate for the lowering of intraocular pressure as we continue phase 3 development and move it towards commercialization.”

NCX 470, Nicox’s lead clinical product candidate, is a novel second-generation nitric oxide (NO)-donating bimatoprost analog for the lowering of IOP in patients with open-angle glaucoma or ocular hypertension. It is currently being evaluated in the Mont Blanc phase 3 clinical trial which was initiated in the U.S. in June 2020 with topline results expected in Q4 2021. A second phase 3 trial, Denali, is expected to start by the end of 2020, and will include clinical sites in both the U.S. and China, with the majority of the patients to be recruited in the U.S.

NCX 470 is exclusively licensed to Ocumension Therapeutics for the Chinese, Korean and South East Asian markets. The Denali trial is jointly funded by Nicox and Ocumension.