Kodiak Catches Investors' Eye

(RTTNews) - Shares of Kodiak Sciences Inc. (KOD), which touched an all-time high of $14.45 in intraday trading on Friday (July 12, 2019) have doubled since the beginning of the year.

Kodiak Sciences is a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company developing biologics-based medicines to treat retinal diseases.

The Company's lead drug candidate is KSI-301, which is under a phase Ib open-label multiple-dose study in patients with anti-VEGF treatment naïve neovascular (wet) age-related macular degeneration (AMD), diabetic macular edema (DME), and macular edema due to retinal vein occlusion (RVO).

Kodiak expects to present data from the phase Ib study at the Annual Meeting of the American Society of Retina Specialists this month.

A phase II randomized head-to-head study comparing KSI-301 against Regeneron Pharmaceuticals' Eylea in patients with wet AMD is expected to be initiated this year.

The Company is also planning to seek approval to conduct confirmatory (pivotal) studies of KSI-301 in China in the second half of 2019. These studies are being designed and planned as dual-use studies to support China and global regulatory requirements.

Also in the pipeline are a couple of preclinical drug candidates - KSI-501, a bispecific anti-interleukin 6/VEGF bioconjugate to target inflammation and abnormal angiogenesis in the pathogenesis of retinal vascular diseases; KSI-201, a recombinant mammalian cell expressed dual inhibitor antibody biopolymer bioconjugate for the treatment of wet AMD; and KSI-401, a recombinant mammalian cell expressed antibody biopolymer conjugate for the treatment of dry AMD.

The net loss for the first quarter of 2019 was $8.0 million or $0.21 per share compared to a net loss of $8.9 million or $1.16 per share in the year-ago period. Being a clinical-stage company, no revenue has been generated to date.

Kodiak ended the first quarter of 2019 with cash of $81.1 million.

The Company went public on the Nasdaq Global Market on October 4, 2018, under the ticker symbol "KOD", offering its shares at a price of $10.00 each.

KOD has thus far hit a low of $5.65 and a high of $14.45.