Acucela Inc. (TOKYO: 4589), a clinical-stage biotechnology company that specializes in discovering and developing novel drug candidates to potentially treat and slow the progression of sight-threatening ophthalmic diseases, today announced that Ryo Kubota, MD, PhD, Chairman, President and CEO, will present this week at the 8th Annual Biotech Showcase™ 2016 in San Francisco, CA.

Biotech Showcase™ 2016, one of the industry’s largest annual healthcare investor conferences, takes place Jan. 11-13 at the Parc 55 San Francisco hotel. Dr. Kubota will present Wednesday, Jan. 13 at 3:30 pm in the Powell Room. Acucela executives will also be available for one-on-one meetings at the conference.

“Biotech Showcase™ is a valuable opportunity for Acucela to connect directly with biotech and life sciences industry leaders,” Dr. Kubota said. “We are an innovator in the treatment of ophthalmic diseases, and we look forward to providing an update on emixustat hydrochloride*1, our lead investigational drug candidate in development for the potential treatment of GA associated with the dry form of AMD. Emixustat is currently undergoing Phase 2b/3 study.”

Biotech Showcase™ is an investor and networking conference devoted to providing private and public biotech and life sciences companies with an opportunity to present to and meet with investors and pharmaceutical executives. This year’s conference is expected to attract more than 2,100 attendees.

*1: Emixustat, the first internally developed compound by Acucela, is orally dosed, targets the visual cycle, and is in development for the potential treatment of geographic atrophy (GA) associated with the dry form of age-related macular degeneration (AMD), for which there is currently no U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved therapy available. The long-term clinical safety and efficacy of emixustat is being evaluated in an ongoing Phase 2b/3 study. Top-line 24-month clinical trial results are expected by mid-2016.

About Acucela Inc.

Acucela Inc. (http://www.acucela.com/ or http://www.acucela.jp) is a clinical-stage biotechnology company that specializes in discovering and developing novel drug candidates to potentially treat and slow the progression of sight-threatening ophthalmic diseases, which could impact millions of individuals worldwide. Acucela currently has the following drug candidates in development in collaboration with Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.: emixustat hydrochloride, its lead investigational drug candidate for geographic atrophy associated with dry age-related macular degeneration based on Acucela’s proprietary visual cycle modulation technology; and OPA-6566, an investigational compound originating from Otsuka Pharmaceutical for the treatment of ocular hypertension and glaucoma.

Cautionary Statements

Certain statements contained in this press release are forward-looking statements made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Any statements contained in this press release that are not statements of historical fact may be deemed to be forward-looking statements. Words such as “will” as well as similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements include Acucela’s expectations regarding corporate development activities and the ultimate success of the enterprise. These statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause the Company’s actual results to differ materially from those projected in forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to the risk that our investigational product candidates will not demonstrate the expected benefits, the success of our investigational product candidates depends heavily on the willingness of our collaboration partner to continue to co-develop our investigational product candidates, the risk of delays in our expected clinical trials, the risk that new developments in the intensely competitive ophthalmic pharmaceutical market require changes in our clinical trial plans or limit the potential benefits of our investigational product candidates, and other risks and uncertainties inherent in the process of discovering and developing therapeutics that demonstrate safety and efficacy. For a detailed discussion of these and other risk factors, please refer to the Company’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which are available on the Company’s investor relations Web site (http://ir.acucela.com/) and on the SEC’s Web site (http://www.sec.gov).