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Kiora Pharmaceuticals and Théa Open Innovation Enter Strategic Agreement to Develop and Commercialize KIO-301 for the Treatment of Inherited Retinal Diseases; Total Deal Value of up to $301 Million includes $16 Million Upfront, up to $285 Million in C...
Kiora Pharmaceuticals and Théa Open Innovation Enter Strategic Agreement to Develop and Commercialize KIO-301 for the Treatment of Inherited Retinal Diseases;
About this update from Kiora Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
[{"type":"text","content":"Kiora Pharmaceuticals and Théa Open Innovation Enter Strategic Agreement to Develop and Commercialize KIO-301 for the Treatment of Inherited Retinal Diseases; Total Deal Value of up to $301 Million includes $16 Million Upfront, up to $285 Million in Clinical Development, Regulatory and Commercial Milestones, Plus Commercial Royalties \n Kiora to webcast investor conference call at 5:30 pm today; details below\nEncinitas, California and Clermont-Ferrand, France--(Newsfile Corp. - January 31, 2024) - Kiora Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: KPRX), a clinical-stage biotech company developing treatments for orphan retinal diseases, today announced that it has entered a strategic development and commercialization agreement with Théa Open Innovation (TOI), a sister company of the global ophthalmic specialty company Laboratoires Théa (Théa). Under the agreement, Kiora granted TOI exclusive worldwide development and commercialization rights, excluding Asia, to KIO-301 for the treatment of degenerative retinal diseases. In exchange, Kiora will receive an upfront, payment of $16 million; up to $285 million upon achievement of pre-specified clinical development, regulatory and commercial milestones; tiered royalties of up to low 20% on net sales; and reimbursement of KIO-301 research and development expenses.\n\"Our partnership with TOI provides us the strategic, financial and commercial resources that we believe will help to bring innovative treatments to market for patients living with inherited retinal disease,\" said Brian Strem, Ph.D., CEO of Kiora. \"Based on the Phase I/II (ABACUS) data of KIO-301 in Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP), we have started to implement our plan to initiate our Phase 2, multicenter, controlled clinical trial for retinitis pigmentosa, in early 2024 with the goal of reporting results in H1 2025 and explore other retinal disease where KIO-301 may be applicable.\"\nData from ABACUS, reported in November 2023, demonstrated meaningful vision improvements in patients with late-stage RP. Findings included significant improvement in visual field, concordant trended improvements in visual acuity and tests of functional vision relating to the use of sight in everyday activities. In addition, functional MRI demonstrated increased visual cortex activity (region of the brain responsible for processing vision) relative to baseline a...