Acucela to Present at ARVO 2016 Annual Meeting’s Education Courses in Seattle

SEATTLE

Acucela Inc. (Tokyo: 4589) (“Acucela”), a clinical-stage ophthalmology company that specializes in identifying and developing novel therapeutics to treat and slow the progression of sight-threatening ophthalmic diseases, announced today that Dr. Ryo Kubota, MD, PhD, and Chairman, President and CEO of Acucela will present at the Education Courses associated with The Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) 2016 Annual Meeting being held May 1-5, 2016 in Seattle, WA.

ARVO is the largest and most respected eye and vision research organization in the world. Their members include nearly 12,000 researchers from over 75 countries. ARVO offers full- and half-day Education Courses the day before the Annual Meeting. Dr. Kubota will present at the Education Course titled “Intellectual Property and Patenting in Vision and Ophthalmic Research” on April 30, 2016, at the Washington State Convention Center.

“ARVO Annual Meeting is a prestigious event. I am excited with the opportunity to present Acucela’s intellectual property strategy as a part of Education Courses associated with ARVO 2016,” stated Dr. Ryo Kubota, MD, PhD, and Chairman, President and CEO of Acucela.

About Acucela Inc.

Acucela Inc. (http://www.acucela.com/ or http://www.acucela.jp) is a clinical-stage ophthalmology company that specializes in identifying and developing novel therapeutics to treat and slow the progression of sight-threatening ophthalmic diseases affecting millions of people worldwide. Acucela’s lead investigational drug candidate, emixustat hydrochloride, is currently in clinical development in collaboration with Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. for geographic atrophy secondary to dry age-related macular degeneration based on Acucela’s proprietary visual cycle modulation technology. Acucela’s pipeline includes drug candidates for the treatment of GA, retinitis pigmentosa, cataract, 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 website (http://ir.acucela.com/) and on the SEC’s website (http://www.sec.gov).

“Acucela” and the Acucela logo are registered trademarks or trademarks of Acucela Inc. in various jurisdictions.

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