Eyconis Doses First Patients in Phase 1b/2a Trial of Long-Acting Anti-VEGF Therapy EYC-0305 for Wet AMD

Eyconis has initiated OVERTURE, its first-in-human phase 1b/2a clinical trial of EYC-0305 in treatment-naive patients with neovascular, or wet, age-related macular degeneration (AMD), with the first patients now dosed.¹ The milestone marks Eyconis' transition to a clinical-stage biotechnology company.¹ EYC-0305 is the company's lead investigational therapy, built on the TransCon technology platform licensed exclusively from Ascendis Pharma for ophthalmology.¹

How does EYC-0305 work, and what does the trial evaluate?

EYC-0305 is an investigational TransCon anti-VEGF antibody fragment (Fab) designed to provide sustained drug exposure in the retina for six months or longer following a single standard intravitreal injection, without requiring surgery, an implant, or a device.¹ OVERTURE is an open-label, multiple ascending dose trial evaluating intravitreal EYC-0305 across multiple dose levels in treatment-naive wet AMD patients (NCT07587515), with safety and tolerability as the primary focus and pharmacokinetics, immunogenicity, disease activity, and vision as additional measures.¹ Patients are expected to receive a single dose every 24 weeks, without the traditional monthly loading doses required by currently approved anti-VEGF therapies.¹ Existing anti-VEGF biologics for wet AMD, including ranibizumab, bevacizumab, and aflibercept, work by binding to and neutralizing vascular endothelial growth factor to slow the abnormal blood vessel growth that drives vision loss in the disease, but require regular, invasive intravitreal injections, typically monthly or every eight weeks, to sustain that effect.² Longer-acting alternatives already exist, such as Genentech's Susvimo, an ocular implant refilled roughly every six months, but EYC-0305 is designed to achieve comparable durability through a standard injection rather than a surgically placed device.

Why does extended dosing matter for wet AMD treatment?

Wet AMD is a leading cause of severe vision loss in older adults, driven by abnormal blood vessel growth and leakage in the retina that leads to fluid, bleeding, and progressive central vision loss.¹ Retina specialists have identified longer-lasting therapies as one of the greatest unmet needs in wet AMD care. Speaking at Retina World Congress 2026, Patricio G. Schlottmann, MD, director of the research department at the Charles Ophthalmic Center in Buenos Aires, said treatment burden is a primary driver of treatment failure, particularly for patients requiring more than six injections annually, and that therapies lasting longer than six months would address “the biggest gap when we treat patients with wet AMD today.”³ Real-world outcomes with existing anti-VEGF therapies are often limited not by the drugs' efficacy but by the difficulty patients and providers face maintaining visit-intensive treatment schedules over years of chronic disease management.¹

What did company and investigator leadership say?

Mark Bachleda, PharmD, MBA, chief executive officer of Eyconis, said, "Treating the first patients with EYC-0305 is an important milestone for Eyconis and for our mission to deliver durable, life-changing therapies that improve vision for people living with serious eye disease. Anti-VEGF therapy has transformed the treatment of wet AMD, but real-world vision outcomes remain limited by the need for frequent injections and the challenges patients and eyecare providers face in maintaining visit-intensive treatment schedules. We believe EYC-0305 has the potential to deliver an unprecedented treatment profile, six months or longer of disease control for most patients, without the need for traditional monthly loading doses, through a standard intravitreal injection."¹ Charles C. Wykoff, MD, PhD, director of research at Retina Consultants of Texas and an OVERTURE trial investigator and scientific advisor to Eyconis, said, "Despite major advances in the treatment of exudative retinal diseases, there remains a significant unmet need for therapies that can safely and consistently extend dosing intervals while maintaining optimal disease control. A markedly longer-acting biologic anti-VEGF delivered by standard intravitreal injection would be an important advance."¹

What happens next?

OVERTURE will continue evaluating EYC-0305 across multiple dose levels to inform the next stage of clinical development, including exploring the potential for durability beyond six months.¹ Beyond wet AMD, Eyconis has said EYC-0305 could have applicability across other retinal diseases, including diabetic macular edema, diabetic retinopathy, and retinal vein occlusion, and the company is separately developing a broader pipeline of long-acting therapies across additional ophthalmic indications.¹ EYC-0305 has not been approved by the FDA or any other regulatory authority.¹

References

1. Eyconis announces initiation of first-in-human clinical trial of EYC-0305 in treatment-naive wet age-related macular degeneration patients. News release. Eyconis, Inc; August 18, 2026. Accessed August 18, 2026.
2. Giannos SA, Kraft ER, Luisi D, Schmitz-Brown ME, Reffatto V, Merkley KH, & Gupta PK. Topical solution for retinal delivery: bevacizumab and ranibizumab eye drops in anti-aggregation formula (AAF) in rabbits. Bioengineering (Basel). 2024;11(6):580. Accessed August 18, 2026. doi.org/10.1007/s11095-024-03721-2
3. Retina World Congress 2026: identifying real-world durability gaps in wet AMD treatment. Ophthalmology Times. May 2026. Accessed August 18, 2026.