UNITY Biotechnology, Inc. announced it has selected UBX1967 as the lead development candidate in the ophthalmology pipeline for advancement into studies to enable an Investigational New Drug (IND) application and executed the compound license agreement for the compound with Ascentage Pharma Group Corp. Limited (“Ascentage Pharma”) under a previously agreed compound library agreement. UBX1967 is being evaluated in a range of age-related diseases of the eye, including neovascular age-related macular degeneration, proliferative diabetic retinopathy and diabetic macular edema. UNITY plans to file an IND application for UBX1967 in the second half of 2019. UBX1967, a potent senolytic small molecule inhibitor of particular members of the Bcl-2 family of apoptosis regulatory proteins, targets proteins senescent cells rely on for survival. UNITY entered into a license agreement with Ascentage Pharma granting UNITY the exclusive worldwide development and commercialization rights and non-exclusive manufacturing rights outside of Greater China (China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan) for UBX1967 in all non-oncology indications. Inside Greater China, UNITY is obligated to commercialize UBX1967 through a joint venture with Ascentage Pharma. The UBX1967 License Agreement also grants UNITY the right to continue its preclinical development efforts with respect to another Ascentage Pharma-controlled Bcl-2 inhibitor compound that will serve as a back-up to UBX1967.