Everest Medicines has entered into an asset purchase agreement with Corxel Pharmaceuticals to develop, manufacture, and commercialize LNZ100, a once-daily prescription eye drop for presbyopia, across Greater China.
The agreement covers mainland China, Hong Kong SAR, Macao SAR, and Taiwan. Under the terms of the deal, Everest will make an upfront payment and potential development milestone payments. The company will also assume rights and obligations under Corxel’s existing license agreement with LENZ Therapeutics, originally signed in April 2022.
LNZ100, known in the US as VIZZ, is a 1.44 percent aceclidine ophthalmic solution designed to improve near vision by inducing miosis, or pupil constriction. This creates a pinhole effect that helps focus light from near objects onto the retina. Unlike some other miotics, aceclidine is described as pupil-selective, meaning it can constrict the pupil without overstimulating the ciliary muscle and causing myopic shift, a change that can impair distance vision.
The therapy was approved in the US in July 2025 and launched commercially in October 2025. In China, a new drug application was submitted in September 2025, with approval expected in the first quarter of 2027.
Everest said the transaction will expand its ophthalmology portfolio and strengthen strategic synergies across its business. Yifang Wu, Chairman of the Board of Everest Medicines, described LNZ100 as “a differentiated asset with meaningful clinical value and strong commercial potential in the treatment of presbyopia.”
According to the company’s press release, onset of presbyopia typically begins around age 38 and reaches nearly 100 percent prevalence by age 52 in China. Current options remain limited, with glasses often inconvenient and surgery invasive and irreversible; no drug is currently approved for presbyopia in China.
The China New Drug Application (NDA) acceptance is supported by a Phase 3 multicenter, randomized, double-blind, vehicle-controlled trial involving 300 participants. LNZ100 met the primary and key secondary endpoints, with statistically significant three-line or greater improvements in near best-corrected distance visual acuity while maintaining distance vision. The drug was well tolerated, with no serious treatment-related adverse events reported.
Source: PR Newswire.
