Ocugen, Inc. (Ocugen or the Company) (NASDAQ:OCGN), a pioneering biotechnology leader in gene therapies for blindness diseases, today announced that the first patient has been dosed in its Phase 2/3 GARDian3 clinical trial for OCU410ST (AAV5-hRORA)—a modifier gene therapy candidate being developed for all Stargardt disease (ABCA4-associated retinopathies).

"Dosing the first patient is an especially significant milestone and brings us closer to our goal of addressing the unmet medical need that exists for all Stargardt patients—100,000 in the U.S. and Europe and 1 million worldwide," said Dr. Shankar Musunuri, Chairman, CEO, and Co-founder of Ocugen. "Progressing our second modifier gene therapy candidate into a registration clinical trial is a pivotal step in potentially providing a one-time therapy for life for the millions of patients affected by inherited retinal diseases."

The Phase 2/3 clinical trial for OCU410ST builds upon encouraging results and positive data from the Phase 1 GARDian trial, which demonstrated 48% slower lesion growth at 12-month follow up in evaluable treated eyes compared to untreated eyes. Additionally, evaluable treated eyes showed a statistically significant (p=0.031) and clinically meaningful improvement of nearly 2-line gain in best corrected visual acuity (BCVA) at 12-month follow-up when compared to untreated eyes.

OCU410ST maintains a favorable safety and tolerability profile with no serious adverse events or adverse events of special interest, including ischemic optic neuropathy, vasculitis, intraocular inflammation, endophthalmitis or choroidal neovascularization.

The Phase 2/3 study will enroll 51 participants diagnosed with Stargardt disease. Of these, 34 will receive a one-time subretinal injection of OCU410ST (200 μL at a concentration of 1.5 × 10¹¹ vector genomes/mL) in the eye with poorer visual acuity, while 17 will be assigned to an untreated control group. The primary objective of the trial is to evaluate the reduction in atrophic lesion size. Key secondary endpoints include improvements in BCVA and low luminance visual acuity (LLVA), compared to controls. Data from the one-year follow-up will be used to support the company's planned Biologics License Application (BLA).

The OCU410ST Phase 2/3 pivotal confirmatory trial represents Ocugen's second late-stage clinical program. Ocugen plans to submit a BLA for OCU410ST in 2027 in alignment with its strategic goal of filing three BLAs over the next three years.