Kodiak Sciences (KOD) Shares are Up 26% in a Week: Here's Why
In the past week, shares of Kodiak Sciences KOD shot up 25.8% against the industry’s 0.1% fall.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
The steep rise in the stock price of the company was observed after the company announced better-than-expected fourth-quarter and full-year 2022 results along with its recent business updates. In the fourth quarter of 2022, the company reported a loss of $1.35 per share, which is narrower than both the Zacks Consensus Estimate of a loss of $1.58 and a loss of $1.79 in the year-ago quarter.
Kodiak Sciences currently has no marketed drug in its portfolio. The company’s lead pipeline candidate, tarcocimab tedromer (formerly KSI-301, also known as tarcocimab), an investigational therapy built on Kodiak's proprietary ABC platform is being developed for treating various retinal vascular diseases.
Tarcocimab is being evaluated in several pivotal studies for addressing diabetic retinopathy (DR), including diabetic macular edema (DME), retinal vein occlusion (RVO), non-proliferative diabetic retinopathy (NPDR) without DME and wet-age-related macular degeneration (wet AMD). The company already reported positive results from its phase III BEACON study evaluating the safety profile of tarcocimab in treating patients with RVO.
The company also reported having completed enrollment in all four of its ongoing phase III pivotal studies evaluating tarcocimab. These studies include Kodiak’s paired phase III studies, GLEAM/GLIMMER in DME, its phase III GLOW study in NPDR and its phase III DAYLIUGHT study in wet AMD. The company expects to announce top-line results from all four of these studies in the third quarter of 2023.
Kodiak Sciences remains on track to file a single BLA for tarcocimab to treat wet AMD, DME, DR and RVO. Data from all these studies is expected to be included in the initial BLA for tarcocimab.
The company also provided an update on KSI-501, its dual inhibitor Trap-Antibody-Fusion bioconjugate molecule, designed to target concurrent inflammation and abnormal angiogenesis observed in the pathogenesis of retinal vascular diseases. The company submitted an investigational new drug application for KSI-501 with the FDA in 2022 which has been cleared by the regulatory body. Kodiak is now screening patients to be enrolled in its phase I study evaluating KSI-501 for the treatment of DME. Treatment of the first subjects in the study is expected in the second quarter of 2023.
However, Kodiak faces stiff competition from big companies, like Regeneron REGN, Novartis NVS and Roche RHHBY, having commercially approved products for the treatment of retinal diseases like wet AMD, DME and RVO.
Regeneron’s Eylea is a leader in the treatment of wet AMD, DME and macular edema following retinal vein occlusion, which includes macular edema following central retinal vein occlusion and macular edema following branch retinal vein occlusion. The FDA also recently approved Eylea to treat preterm infants with retinopathy of prematurity.
Novartis’ Beovu is approved for the treatment of wet AMD. It is also currently approved in European Union (EU) for the same indication.
Last January, Roche’s Vabysmo was also approved by the FDA for the treatment of wet AMD and DME. Subsequently, Roche received approval for Vabysmo in the EU, for the same indication, in September 2022.
Kodiak Sciences Inc. Price and Consensus
Kodiak Sciences Inc. price-consensus-chart | Kodiak Sciences Inc. Quote
Zacks Rank
Kodiak Sciences currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
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