REFLECTING ON 2020 – A TRANSFORMATIVE YEAR FOR TARSUS

The year 2020 has changed many of us in ways we did not expect – for Tarsus it has meant growth, learning, and moving closer to opportunities to transform the lives of patients with Demodex blepharitis and other common and poorly treated diseases

In January of 2020, Tarsus was a biopharmaceutical start-up company with momentum. In less than two years since co-founder and Chairman Michael Ackermann, PhD and I raised our Series A, we had grown to about eight employees, completed two Phase 2 trials with one program, and just closed Series B financing of $60 million with a leading venture syndicate. Our team had a vision to address the high unmet needs we saw in blepharitis and other common conditions, where we saw opportunity to serve a large number of patients and where there had not been a lot of pharmaceutical activity. We had ambitious plans, but we could not have foreseen the challenges and successes we have had this year. During a very challenging year marked by a global pandemic, Tarsus had the good fortune to meet or exceed our goals for 2020 and find some unexpected opportunities along the way. I am especially grateful for our team and partners to make all this possible in a transformational year for Tarsus.

Our goal is to transform eye care treatment in several areas of unmet need, starting with Demodex blepharitis. Despite the global pandemic, and through a consistent and coordinated effort with our clinical partners, we have completed two additional Phase 2 trials this year, and thus four total Phase 2 trials for our novel therapeutic TP-03 (lotilaner ophthalmic solution 0.25%) in Demodex blepharitis – Mars, Jupiter, Io, and Europa – all of which met their endpoints and showed TP-03 to be well tolerated. We also commenced our first pivotal trial, Saturn-1, in September 2020 and intend to commence our second pivotal trial, Saturn-2, in 2021, both with primary and secondary endpoints consistent with those of our Europa and Io Phase 2 trials. We expect to have results from Saturn-1 in 2021, and if both pivotal trials are positive, we expect the data to support the potential submission of an NDA for TP-03 to treat Demodex blepharitis. In addition to our efforts in Demodex blepharitis, we plan to initiate clinical trials for four additional indications in 2021, spanning eye care, dermatology, and the prevention of parasitic diseases.

We have built upon a great team of investors and executives in eye care and biopharmaceuticals to help us advance and deliver to patients our lead product and pipeline. As the year started, we did not have plans for an initial public offering, but because of investor interest we raised $40 million in a crossover round followed by $101.2 million in our October IPO and listing on Nasdaq, which marks a major milestone for Tarsus. Throughout 2020 we have never ceased focusing on our mission to discover and deliver breakthrough treatments that we believe, if approved, have the potential to transform the lives of patients with common and poorly treated diseases. We are laying the foundation for long-term organizational growth with the addition of key leaders to our team, including CFO Leo Greenstein, COO Sesha Neervannan, PhD, and CCO Aziz Mottiwala, who collectively have extensive experience in biopharmaceuticals and eye care. We have also appointed Wendy Yarno to our Board of Directors, who with her 30+ years in the biopharmaceutical industry brings deep commercial and public company experience to our company. We look forward to bringing more exceptional talent and leadership to Tarsus in 2021 to help us advance our mission.

We are excited by the promise of TP-03 that, if approved, has the potential to be the first FDA-approved therapeutic and become the standard of care for the treatment of Demodex blepharitis, addressing the underlying cause in almost half of blepharitis patients. We are advancing our pipeline to address a number of other diseases with high unmet need across therapeutic categories including meibomian gland disease, rosacea, Lyme disease, and malaria.

I am proud and humbled by what our team has accomplished this year and I look forward to building on our progress in 2021 and advancing our mission to deliver transformative therapeutics to patients in need.

Happy New Year!