PALO ALTO, Calif., Feb. 4, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Kodiak Sciences Inc. (Nasdaq: KOD), a biopharmaceutical company committed to researching, developing and commercializing transformative therapeutics to treat a broad spectrum of retinal diseases, announced today that senior management will present the Company's pipeline program exploring the treatment of glaucoma at the Glaucoma 360 New Horizons Forum 2025 on Friday, February 7, 2025, in San Francisco, CA.
Glaucoma is the leading cause of irreversible blindness, affecting approximately 76 million people worldwide. This optic neuropathy progressively damages the optic nerve, leading to partial or total vision loss. Emerging research identifies neuroinflammation as a key driver of optic neuropathy in glaucoma, but the primary focus of glaucoma therapy today is decreasing the elevated intraocular pressure, the only modifiable risk factor of the disease.
"At Kodiak Sciences, we are leveraging our Antibody Biopolymer Conjugate Drug (ABCD) platform to develop a first-in-class, disease-modifying therapy that decreases the neuroinflammation driving optic neuropathy and simultaneously reduces the elevated intraocular pressure", said Dolly Chang, M.D., Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer at Kodiak Sciences. "This dual-acting approach has the potential to transform glaucoma treatment by addressing the underlying mechanism of optic nerve damage."
Kodiak's novel "duet" therapy, which will be presented at the Glaucoma 360 New Horizons Forum, directly targets the NLRP3 inflammasome, a key driver of neuroinflammation and optic neuropathy while also incorporating an IOP-lowering molecule to reduce eye pressure. Designed for quarterly dosing, this innovative dual-mechanism investigational therapy is designed to offer a comprehensive and more durable solution to slow glaucoma progression and improve long-term outcomes.
"With the ABCD platform, we aim to redefine glaucoma treatment by delivering next-generation, disease-modifying, multi-mechanism therapies that provide patients with more effective and longer-lasting solutions," Dr. Chang added.
Presentation details are below:
Title: Addressing Optic Neuropathy Through Neuroinflammation Modulation and IOP Lowering with the ABCD Platform: A Polymedicine Approach to Glaucoma
Presenter: Dolly S. Chang, M.D., M.P.H., PH.D., Chief Scientific Officer, Kodiak Sciences Inc.
Date and time: February 7, 2025. This presentation is part of the broader session titled "Beyond IOP: Targeting Neuroprotection and Vision Restoration" scheduled from 10:45 - 11:55 a.m. PST.
Slides of the presentation will be available on the "Events and Presentations" section of Kodiak's website at http://ir.kodiak.com/ at the beginning of the presentation.
About Kodiak Sciences Inc.
Kodiak Sciences (Nasdaq: KOD) is a biopharmaceutical company committed to researching, developing, and commercializing transformative therapeutics to treat a broad spectrum of retinal diseases. We are focused on bringing new science to the design and manufacture of next generation retinal medicines to prevent and treat the leading causes of blindness globally. Our ABC Platform™ uses molecular engineering to merge the fields of protein-based and chemistry-based therapies and has been at the core of Kodiak's discovery engine. We are developing a portfolio of three clinical programs, two of which are late-stage today and derived from our ABC Platform and one which is platform-independent and which we believe can progress rapidly into pivotal studies.
Kodiak's lead investigational medicine, tarcocimab, is a novel anti-VEGF antibody biopolymer conjugate under development for the treatment of high prevalence retinal vascular diseases. Tarcocimab is currently being studied in two Phase 3 clinical trials, GLOW2 in patients with diabetic retinopathy and DAYBREAK in patients with wet AMD. Both studies are actively enrolling patients.
KSI-501 is our second investigational medicine, a first-in-class anti-IL-6, VEGF-trap bispecific antibody biopolymer conjugate designed to inhibit both IL-6 mediated inflammation and VEGF-mediated angiogenesis and vascular permeability. KSI-501 is being developed for the treatment of high prevalence retinal vascular diseases to address the unmet needs of extended durability and targeting disease biology beyond VEGF for differentiated efficacy. The Phase 3 DAYBREAK study of KSI-501 in wet AMD is actively enrolling patients.
KSI-101, our third product candidate, is a novel anti-IL-6, VEGF-trap bispecific protein. Kodiak is developing KSI-101 for the treatment of retinal inflammatory diseases, as currently there are no available intravitreal biologic therapies addressing the spectrum of inflammatory conditions of the retina. The Phase 1b APEX study of KSI-101 is actively enrolling patients, as a precursor to activating the Phase 2b/3 PEAK and PINNACLE studies in patients with macular edema secondary to inflammation ("MESI").
Kodiak is advancing its platform technology to embed small molecules and other active pharmaceutical ingredients ("APIs") into Kodiak's proprietary biopolymer backbone to enable high drug-antibody-ratio ("DAR") medicines. The diverse APIs are designed to be released over time to achieve targeted, multi-specific and tailored modulation of biological pathways. The unique combination of high DAR and tailored therapeutic benefit offers potential for broad application to multifactorial diseases and builds directly from our Antibody Biopolymer Conjugate technology and its 15 years of design, development and manufacturing experience. We call this platform extension our Antibody Biopolymer Conjugate Drug ("ABCD") Platform because we are extending our platform capabilities to include the conjugation of small molecule drugs and other APIs whereas historically, we primarily conjugated biologics such as antibodies.
This release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are not based on historical fact and include statements regarding: leveraging our ABCD platform to develop a potential first-in-class, disease-modifying therapy that decreases the neuroinflammation driving optic neuropathy and simultaneously reducing the elevated intraocular pressure; the potential to transform glaucoma treatment by addressing the underlying mechanisms of optic nerve damage; the novel "duet" therapy's potential to offer a more durable and comprehensive solution to slow glaucoma progression and improve long-term outcomes; the aim to redefine glaucoma treatment by delivering next-generation, disease-modifying and multi-mechanism therapies that provide patients with longer-lasting and more effective solutions; our ability to rapidly progress clinical programs into pivotal studies; activating the Phase 2b/3 PEAK and PINNACLE studies in patients with macular edema secondary to inflammation; the unique combination of high DAR and tailored therapeutic benefit offering the potential for broad application to multifactorial diseases; and our platform's capabilities to include the conjugation of small molecule drugs and other APIs. Forward-looking statements generally include statements that are predictive in nature and depend upon or refer to future events or conditions, and include words such as "may," "will," "should," "would," "could," "expect," "plan," "believe," "intend," "pursue," and other similar expressions among others. Any forward-looking statements are based on management's current expectations of future events and are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially and adversely from those in or implied by such forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to: the risk that cessation, modification or delay of any of the ongoing clinical studies may occur; the risk that our research and development efforts and our ability to advance our product candidates into later stages of development may fail; the risk that any one or more of our product candidates may not be successfully developed, approved or commercialized; the risk that adverse economic conditions may significantly impact our business and operations, including our clinical trial sites, and those of our manufacturers, contract research organizations or others with whom we conduct business; the risk that sufficient capital may not be available as expected, or at all, to complete the development of any products; as well as the other risks identified in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). For a discussion of other risks and uncertainties, and other important factors, any of which could cause our actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements, see the section entitled "Risk Factors" in our most recent Form 10-K, as well as discussions of potential risks, uncertainties, and other important factors in our subsequent filings with the SEC. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date hereof and Kodiak undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements, and readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements.
Kodiak®, Kodiak Sciences®, ABC™, ABC Platform™, ABCD™ and the Kodiak logo are registered trademarks or trademarks of Kodiak Sciences Inc. in various global jurisdictions.
