Shidlovsky
Baird said he believes the recent weakness in Ocular Therapeutix (NASDAQ:OCUL) stock is “over the top” and remains bullish on the company's opportunities in wet AMD.
The investment firm noted that the recently published results from Axpaxli's Phase 1 Helios study in Nonproliferative diabetic retinopathy, or NPDR, showed no notable safety concerns. He added that the eye administration has emphasized that the trial was designed to be a small safety study.
“Overall, we believe the efficacy fell short of investor expectations, but the small size of the study makes it difficult to interpret the data,” Baird said in a note published Friday. “One patient in any direction has a big impact when there are only 13 patients.”
Baird said that given the small size of the Phase 1 trial and the “relatively low response rate,” it may be “challenging to push forward a Phase 3 study on the historic primary endpoint.”
Despite that, Baird believes it is possible that the FDA “could work with Ocular to design a different path forward, although we await clarity on the outcome of the FDA's planned discussions.”
The investment firm also noted that rival EyePoint (EYPT) is expected to report Phase 2 data on its NPDR drug candidate in the second quarter, adding that positive data “would be positive for Axpaxli.”
Baird maintained his Outperform rating on the stock with an $18 price target.
