[October 16, 2014]

Acucela's Emixustat Hydrochloride, in Development for Geographic Atrophy Associated with Dry Age-Related Macular Degeneration, Subject of Podium Presentation at the American Academy of Ophthalmology 2014 Annual Meeting

Acucela Inc. (TOKYO: 4589), a clinical-stage biotechnology company that specializes in discovering and developing novel therapeutics to potentially treat and slow the progression of sight-threatening ophthalmic diseases, today announced that results on the pharmacodynamic properties of emixustat hydrochloride in patients with geographic atrophy will be presented by Roger L. Novack, MD, PhD, Retina-Vitreous Associates Medical Group, Beverly Hills, California, during a podium session at the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO) 2014 Annual Meeting in Chicago, IL on Tuesday, October 21, 2014 at 10:46AM, CT. The abstract can be accessed at: http://www.aao.org/meetings/annual_meeting/program/. The presentation is entitled "Pharmacodynamic Properties of Emixustat Hydrochloride in the Treatment of Geographic Atrophy (PA089)." Emixustat, the first internally developed investigational compound by Acucela, is orally dosed, targets the visual cycle, and is in development for the treatment of GA associated with dry AMD (News - Alert). Dr. Novack was one of the investigators in Acucela's Phase 2a clinical study and is currently participating as an investigator in the Phase 2b/3 "SEATTLE" study.

The American Academy of Ophthalmology, headquartered in San Francisco, is the world's largest association of eye physicians and surgeons - Eye M.D.s with more than 32,000 members worldwide. For additional information about AAO2014, please visit: http://www.aao.org/meetings/annual_meeting/.

About Acucela Inc.

Acucela Inc. (www.acucela.com or www.acucela.jp) is a clinical-stage biotechnology company that specializes in discovering and developing novel therapeutics to treat and slow the progression of sight-threatening ophthalmic diseases impacting millions of individuals worldwide. Acucela currently has the following candidates in development in collaboration with Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.: emixustat hydrochloride for GA associated with dry AMD based on Acucela's proprietary visual cycle modulation technology; and OPA-6566 for ocular hypertension and glaucoma.

Cautionary Statements

Certain statements contained in this press release and the abstract 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" and "intended," as well as similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements include Acucela's expectations regarding clinical development activities. 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 product candidates will not demonstrate the expected benefits, the success of our product candidates depends heavily on the willingness of our collaboration partner to continue to co-develop our 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 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 (News - Alert) Web site (http://www.sec.gov).

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