Eton Pharmaceuticals Expands Infantile Hemangioma Franchise with Acquisition of U.S. Rights to Late-Stage Product Candidate ASN-001

Eton Pharmaceuticals, Inc (“Eton” or “the Company”) (Nasdaq: ETON), an innovative pharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercializing treatments for rare diseases, today announced that the Company has licensed U.S. rights to rare disease product candidate ASN-001 (timolol topical gel) from Auson Pharmaceuticals (“Auson”). ASN-001 is under development for the treatment of proliferating superficial infantile hemangiomas. Auson previously completed a three-arm Phase II/III trial of 168 patients that showed efficacy results for ASN-001. In the study, 56% of patients applying ASN-001 twice daily and 42% of patients taking ASN-001 three times per day showed elimination or near-elimination of their infantile hemangiomas at week 24, compared with 15% in the placebo group. Eton will run a bioavailability bridging study for ASN-001 and intends to submit the New Drug Application (NDA) upon completion of the study in the second half of 2027.

“Our acquisition of HEMANGEOL ® (propranolol hydrochloride) oral solution gave us a unique view into the infantile hemangioma treatment landscape. We consistently observed that physicians rely on HEMANGEOL for patients requiring systemic therapy, while a much larger group of moderate patients are treated with ophthalmic timolol products used off-label because no FDA-approved topical option exists. ASN-001 is designed specifically for this population, making it highly complementary to HEMANGEOL and positioning Eton to potentially address the full spectrum of infantile hemangioma treatment. We’re highly committed to investing in the development of new therapies and are excited to collaborate with Auson to bring ASN-001 to patients as quickly as possible,” said Sean Brynjelsen, CEO of Eton Pharmaceuticals.

“This transaction adds yet another high-value, late-stage candidate to our pipeline, and showcases Eton’s unique ability to effectively enter new therapeutic areas and leverage its commercial infrastructure and relationships to quickly expand within a specialty,” concluded Brynjelsen.

Infantile hemangiomas are non-cancerous vascular tumors that typically appear in the first days or weeks of a newborn’s life. In severe cases, infantile hemangiomas can lead to serious complications including loss of vision, trouble breathing, or physical deformities, and require intervention with systemic therapy. They affect more than 100,000 infants annually in the United States and exist across a broad spectrum of severity. HEMANGEOL is the established standard of care for proliferating infantile hemangiomas requiring systemic therapy, representing an estimated 10,000 to 15,000 patients annually. For the substantially larger population of moderate infantile hemangiomas, physicians frequently prescribe ophthalmic timolol products to be used off-label.