Oculis raises $59 million in oversubscribed round

Oculis is a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company purposefully driven to save sight and improve eye care with clinical-stage pipeline comprising multiple drug candidates in development for eye diseases of high unmet need. The company boasts a pipeline of drugs including OCS-01, a topical eye drop candidate for diabetic macular edema (DME) and for the treatment of inflammation and pain following cataract surgery. A Phase 3 OPTIMIZE-1 trial of OCS-01 showed promising results. If approved, OCS-01 would be the first eye drop treatment for DME. Topline readout from the second Phase 3 OPTIMIZE-2 is anticipated later this year to support NDA submission.  

To support its programs and further developments, the Zug-based company - with offices in the U.S. and Iceland - completed a financing round raising approximately $59 million, consisting of the issuance of 5 million of its ordinary shares a purchase price of $11.75 per share. In connection with the financing, Oculis accepted subscription offers from a syndicate of new Icelandic institutional and existing investors. Closing and settlement of the Financing is expected on April 22nd, subject to customary closing conditions. Oculis intends to use the net proceeds to advance and accelerate its clinical development pipeline, as well as for working capital and general corporate purposes. Oculis believes that the net proceeds from the financing, together with its current cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments, will be sufficient to fund operations and capital expenditure requirements into the second half of 2026. 

In line with closing the registered direct trading round, Oculis announced that on 11 April, the Central Bank of Iceland, Financial Supervision approved its prospectus required for the listing of its ordinary shares on the Nasdaq Iceland Main Market under the ticker symbol “OCS”.  Nasdaq Iceland will announce the first day of trading with at least one day advance notice. Read more about the offering of Oculis’ shares here. 

"We are pleased to become one of the few dual-listed biotech companies in the U.S. as well as Iceland, where the proprietary OPTIREACH technology was invented,” said Riad Sherif, M.D., CEO of Oculis. “We are grateful for the support of our new investor syndicate, a group that shares our commitment to save sight and improve eye care with potentially transformative therapies. Additionally, we look forward to sharing the topline results from our OCS-02 Phase 2b RELIEF trial later this quarter.”  

(Press releases / SR)