Biotech Values

[DewDiligence]

OCUP reverse-merges with—(private)—Opus Genetics:

https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2024/10/22/2967317/0/en/Ocuphire-Pharma-Announces-Acquisition-of-Opus-Genetics.html

In connection with the merger, the combined company will be renamed Opus Genetics, Inc., effective October 23, 2024, and will trade on Nasdaq under the ticker symbol “IRD” effective October 24, 2024.

…The company is a clinical-stage ophthalmic biopharmaceutical company developing therapies to treat patients with inherited retinal diseases (IRDs) and therapies to treat patients with other retinal and refractive disorders. The pipeline includes adeno-associated virus (AAV)-based gene therapies that address mutations in genes that cause different forms of bestrophinopathy, Leber congenital amaurosis (LCA) and retinitis pigmentosa. The company’s most advanced gene therapy program is designed to address mutations in the LCA5 gene, which encodes the lebercilin protein and is currently being evaluated in a Phase 1/2 open-label, dose-escalation trial, with encouraging early data.

The impetus for the “IRD” ticker symbol is “inherited retinal diseases.”

p.s. OCUP is itself the result of a reverse-merger announced in Jun 2020 (#msg-156362145).