Benzinga | Jun 30, 2021 08:00AM EDT

Ocuphire Pharma Stock Surges After Nyxol Combo Treatment Meets Study Endpoints In Presbyopic Patients

* Ocuphire Pharma Inc (NASDAQ:OCUP) announced data from the VEGA-1 Phase 2 trial evaluating the efficacy and safety of Nyxol in combination with low-dose pilocarpine (LDP) in presbyopic subjects.

* Presbyopic is the gradual loss of the eye's ability to focus on nearby objects.

* 61% of subjects treated with Nyxol + LDP improved 15 letters or greater in photopic binocular near vision at 1 hour than 28% of subjects on placebo with statistical significance.

* Met the Phase 3 co-primary endpoint vs. placebo gaining 15 letters near vision with less than five letters of distance vision loss.

* Rapid onset of efficacy at 30 mins.

* Durable near vision improvement through at least 6 hours.

* A sustained significant reduction in pupil diameter over at least 18 hours due to the long-lasting effects of Nyxol.

* No severe adverse events (AEs) were reported. Almost all AEs were mild. No headaches, no brow aches, and no blurry vision AEs were reported.

* Mild, transient conjunctival hyperemia (eye redness) was observed in less than 5% of subjects.

* The company plans to initiate Phase 3 trials for presbyopia in 2022 and a second Nyxol Phase 3 trial for Reversal of Mydriasis later this year.

* Price Action: OCUP shares are up 66.5% at $7.81 during the premarket session on the last check Wednesday.