Kiora Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (KPRX) are jumping nearly 20% on Thursday morning after the company announced the dosing of the first patient in a first-in-human open-label clinical trial for KIO-301, intended to restore vision loss in patients with Retinitis Pigmentosa.
KPRX is currently trading at $7.06, up $1.16 or 19.66%, on the Nasdaq. The stock opened its trading at $6.20 after closing Wednesday's trading at $5.90. The stock has traded between $4.88 and $71.60 in the past 52-week period.
ABACUS is a Phase 1b open-label, single ascending dose clinical trial for people living with retinitis pigmentosa. The study will enroll six patients and evaluate 12 eyes. The first cohort of three patients will include individuals with no or bare light perception due to the progression of RP. The second cohort will include patients able to detect hand motion and count fingers. The primary endpoints are safety and tolerability, with secondary efficacy endpoints including object identification and contrast assessment, navigation, functional MRI and other ophthalmic and quality-of-life assessments. This single-site study is being conducted at The Royal Adelaide Hospital (RAH) in Adelaide, South Australia.
RP is a rare, inherited genetic eye disease resulting in degeneration of the retinal photoreceptors (rods and cones) and often significant loss of functional vision.
"We are thrilled the first patient has been treated and I'm very encouraged with our observations to date," said Dr. Robert Casson of the Royal Adelaide Hospital, principal investigator on the study. "Notably, the patient is clinically doing well and the drug appears to be safe and well tolerated. While early in the study, patient feedback supports improvement in vision. We look forward to assessing additional data with this first and additional patients as we continue enrolling."
For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com
Business News
April 24, 2026 15:15 ET Economics news flow was relatively light this week even as the conflict in the Middle East continued, raising concerns for policymakers. In the U.S., spending data, initial jobless claims and pending home sales were the highlights. Business confidence in the biggest euro area economy was in focus in Europe. Inflation data from Japan gained attention in Asia.