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Ohr Pharmaceutical Provides Update on Squalamine Study

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Ohr Pharmaceutical, Inc. , announced it plans to amend the ongoing MAKO Study evaluating Squalamine (also known as OHR-102) in wet form of age-related macular degeneration (wet-AMD) so that it can obtain efficacy analyses by the end of calendar 2017 or early 2018. About 200 patients are enrolled in the study.

These patients will continue to receive their assigned study treatment of monthly Lucentis (developed by Genentech) and either Squalamine or placebo drops twice daily, and undergo scheduled visits and assessments through nine month. The primary endpoint of the study will be an assessment of visual acuity at nine months.

In fact, Ohr Pharmaceutical’s shares declined 37% following the news release.  Ohr Pharmaceutical’s share price shows that the company has underperformed the Zacks classified Medical Drugs industry year to date. The stock is down 52.6% compared with industry’s fall of 0.2%.

We note that squalamine lactate ophthalmic solution, 0.2%, is the company's lead drug candidate which is currently being studied using an eye drop formulation in an ongoing study for the treatment of the wet-AMD.
The company expects to get efficacy data by end of 2017 or early next year with the goal of confirming the benefits seen in the prior phase II IMPACT study. The results from the IMPACT study showed the ability of topical OHR-102 given in combination with anti-VEGF injections to improve visual function in patients with wet AMD over anti-VEGF treatment alone.

The ongoing study has enrolled the patient population identified from the IMPACT study that has the greatest potential to benefit from Squalamine combination therapy.

The company also stated that it is fully funded into 2018 including the completion of its ongoing study and the data readout. On Apr 10, Ohr Pharmaceutical closed its public offering of common stock and warrants. The company sold an aggregate 20,250,032 shares of common stock at a price to the public of 70 cents per share.

Investors also received warrants to purchase up to an aggregate of 14,175,059 shares of common stock with an exercise price of $1.00. The company plans to utilise the proceeds from the offering for working capital and other general corporate purposes, including the completion and data readout of the ongoing clinical study investigating Squalamine in wet-AMD.
 

Zacks Rank & Stocks to Consider

Ohr Pharmaceutical currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Better-ranked stocks in the health care sector include Heska Corp. , Retrophin, Inc. and Galena Biopharma, Inc. . All the three companies carry a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Heska’s earnings estimates moved up from $1.53 to $1.65 for 2017 and from $1.90 to $2.01 for 2018, over the last 60 days. The company posted a positive earnings surprise in all of the last four quarters, with an average beat of 291.54%. Its share price increased 40.7% year to date.

Retrophin’s loss estimates narrowed from 85 cents to 72 cents for 2017 and from 67 cents to 53 cents for 2018, over the last 30 days. The company posted a positive earnings surprise in three of the four trailing quarters with an average beat of 80.55%.  

Galena Biopharma‘s loss estimates narrowed from $2.27to 58 cents for 2017 and from $92 cents to 73 cents for 2018, over the last 60 days. The company posted a positive earnings surprise in two of the four trailing quarters with an average beat of 53.83%.  

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