Ascentage Pharma announced its licensee, UNITY Biotechnology, has dosed the first patient in a Phase I clinical study of drug candidate UBX1325 in patients with diabetic macular edema (DME). UBX1325 is developed from BM-962, a Bcl-xL inhibiting compound licensed to UNITY by Ascentage Pharma for the treatment of age-related diseases. This progress in clinical development qualifies Ascentage Pharma for a milestone payment according to the terms of the licensing agreement. The milestone payment was made in common stocks from UNITY, totaling 228,310 shares.
In 2016, Ascentage Pharma and UNITY entered into a strategic licensing arrangement, authorizing UNITY to screen Ascentage Pharma's Bcl-2 compound library for developing treatments for age-related diseases. The compound BM-962 was selected by UNITY from Ascentage Pharma's library and subject to license agreement between Ascentage Pharma and UNITY. Under the applicable agreements, Ascentage Pharma retains the rights to the compounds in the Greater China region and plans to establish a joint venture with UNITY in the future for the development and commercialization of the compound in China.
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"Dosing the first patient with UBX1325 marks an important milestone in our collaboration with UNITY," said Dr. Dajun Yang, Chairman & CEO of Ascentage Pharma. "We look forward to further progresses by UNITY in its clinical development program. We are confident that our collaboration in developing therapies for age-related diseases will bring fresh hope to patients around the world."