Kodiak Sciences experienced a remarkable 68.6% increase in its share price on Thursday, reaching its highest level in over four years. This surge followed the announcement that the company’s experimental drug, Zenkuda, successfully met the primary endpoint in a late-stage clinical trial targeting diabetic retinopathy, an eye condition caused by diabetes.
As of Wednesday’s close, Kodiak was valued at $1.39 billion. The company has been developing Zenkuda to treat diabetic retinopathy, a complication marked by damaged retinal blood vessels that can lead to leakage, bleeding, and potential vision loss. In the trial, 62.5% of patients treated with Zenkuda achieved at least a two-step improvement on a standard retinopathy severity scale after 48 weeks, compared to just 3.3% of patients receiving a placebo.
Notably, the treatment also resulted in an 85% reduction in the risk of developing severe complications, including progression to proliferative diabetic retinopathy, a vision-threatening condition. Zenkuda is based on Kodiak’s antibody-biopolymer conjugate (ABC) platform, and the strong trial outcomes are expected to enhance confidence in the company’s broader drug development technology, industry analysts.
The company reported that Zenkuda was well-tolerated, with no cases of vision-threatening side effects such as inflammation of the blood vessels or the eye. Designed as a long-acting therapy, Zenkuda works by blocking a protein associated with harmful blood vessel growth in the retina. The drug demonstrated consistent effectiveness regardless of whether patients were also taking GLP-1 medications.
In a significant development, Kodiak announced plans to expedite its application for approval with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) based on these positive results. UBS analyst Michael Yee highlighted that the favorable safety profile in diabetic retinopathy also reduces risks for Kodiak’s ongoing study in wet age-related macular degeneration. This study, which involves testing both tarcocimab and KSI-501, is expected to report results in the third quarter.
