RHHBY - Ocugen: Paradigm Shift Gene Therapy Facing Cash Flow Hurdles
2024-07-01 11:07:23 ET
Summary
- Ocugen's most advanced product candidate, OCU400, has started Phase 3 clinical trials, aiming for regulatory approval in the U.S. and Europe by 2026.
- The gene therapy platform shows promise in treating retinal diseases, with potential to become a market leader in RP if successful.
- Despite financial struggles, Ocugen's gene therapy products have high potential, supporting a speculative "Buy" rating for long-term investors with a high risk tolerance.
Thesis
Ocugen's ( OCGN ) most advanced product candidate, OCU400, has recently started the Phase 3 clinical trial, after delivering positive results in terms of efficacy and tolerability. The company is expecting to obtain positive results in terms of the therapeutic efficacy of a single injection of OCU400 on gene-agnostic patients with retinitis pigmentosa, which are patients whose condition has not been linked to a specific gene mutation. If the results are positive, Ocugen expects to request regulatory approval in the U.S. and Europe by 2026.
From the technological point of view, the gene therapy platform is set to potentially disrupt the gene therapy market, in retinal diseases and in general in complex gene-related pathological conditions, and I will expand on this in the next section. However, from the financial point of view, the company is struggling with very limited cash flow that only covers their operations until the end of 2024. Hence, I would expect the company to raise cash via debt or issuing new shares in order to increase liquidity in the near-term....
Ocugen: Paradigm Shift Gene Therapy Facing Cash Flow Hurdles