EyePoint Pharmaceuticals, a company focused on developing therapeutics for eye disorders, announced that it had entered into a lease agreement for a 40,000-square-foot manufacturing facility located in Northbridge, Massachusetts.
The company outlined that the plant would provide support for the global manufacturing of its products and pipeline products, including Yutiq (fluocinolone acetonide intravitreal implant) and EYP-1901.
EyePoint’s plans for the facility to be good manufacturing practice (GMP) compliant to meet US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and European Medicine Agency (EMA) standards. The location will support EYP-1901’s clinical supply, while ensuring that commercial supply is possible, should regulatory approval be achieved.
The facility will also hold capacity for the company’s commercial products and pipeline. EyePoint expects the work to be completed and the facility to be operational by the second half of 2024.
“This agreement allows EyePoint to meet anticipated global clinical and commercial demand for our products and product candidates with only a modest financial upfront requirement, as rent obligations do not begin until we occupy the facility in the second half of 2024,” said George Elston, CFO of EyePoint.
Elston added that the company will receive approximately $1.9m (€1.75m) in state and local tax incentives, as part of the company’s choice to build a facility in the state and due to the local jobs created. The facility will employ V.E. Properties IX to carry out the design and construction of the facility.
In terms of the products confirmed to be manufactured at the facility, once completed, Yutiq is indicated for the treatment of chronic non-infectious uveitis affecting the posterior segment of the eye. The product managed $7.3m in sales in the third quarter of 2022.
The other confirmed treatment to be manufactured at the site is EYP-1901. The drug candidate is formed of Durasert and vorolanib, with the latter chemical being an anti-VEGF therapy.
Durasert is a miniaturized, injectable, sustained-delivery system, which allows for the release of therapeutics into the eye over a period of weeks, months, or years.
Vorolanib has shown efficacy in wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD), which acts to block the main driver of the proliferation of blood vessels, one of the signs of the disease.
The potential treatment is being investigated in wet AMD, diabetic retinopathy, and retinal vein occlusion – EyePoint has taken EYP-1901 through to Phase I trials in wet AMD. The treatment would be differentiated from existing treatments as the treatment would be delivered twice-yearly, through intravitreal injection.
