Around 25 million Americans are affected by the eye disease Demodex blepharitis, which is caused by small mites that make their way into the eyelid. This causes chronic inflammation that can, in severe cases, cause problems on the cornea of the eye itself. The disease can also cause damage to eyelashes and cause other allergic reactions. Despite its prevalence, there wasn’t any good treatment for the disease until July of last year, when the FDA approved Tarsus Pharmaceuticals’ Xdemvy, an eyedrop solution that directly targets the mites that cause the disease. The treatment hit the market in late August 2023.

Since then, CEO Bobak Azamian told Forbes, the company has been busy getting the treatment to patients. “We did $25 million in revenue in the first quarter,” he said. “That was a nearly 90% increase from the fourth quarter.” That figure represents getting the drug to over 26,000 people with the disease, with over 8,000 eye doctors beginning to provide the drug to patients, he said. He added that the company has heard lots of anecdotal praise from patients, including from Azamian’s own mother, who was afflicted with the disease.

Mites aren’t the only bug Tarsus is setting its biochemical sights on. The company is also working on a pill that can be taken after exposure to ticks to prevent Lyme disease. The pill works by killing ticks both when you take it and any ticks who bite up to 30 days after. Phase 2 data released by the company in February 2024 found that the pill killed over 90% of sterile ticks that were attached to healthy volunteers, compared to about 5% mortality in patients who took a placebo.

In addition, Azamian said that Tarsus is also working on drugs that can reduce transmission of malaria by killing mosquitoes who bite patients, as well as drugs aimed at other diseases that are also caused by mites. “What we are really committed to is creating an entirely new category of medicine,” he said.