Kala Pharmaceuticals announced that it will change its name to KALA BIO, effective August 2, 2023, to better reflect the company’s focus on advancing biologics for the treatment of ophthalmic conditions. KALA BIO is progressing an innovative pipeline built on its proprietary mesenchymal stem cell secretome (MSC-S) platform, which is designed to provide a cell-free, regenerative approach to disease management, with the potential to treat multiple diseases of the front and back of the eye.
“KALA BIO is committed to developing innovative therapies for rare and severe diseases of the eye,” said Mark Iwicki, Chair and Chief Executive Officer of KALA BIO. “Our primary focus is the utilization of our MSC-S platform to develop novel therapies for ophthalmic diseases. Now that we are enrolling patients in the CHASE (Corneal Healing After S.Ecretome therapy) Phase 2b clinical trial of KPI-012 for the treatment of persistent corneal epithelial defect (PCED) and evaluating the potential development of KPI-012 and KPI-014 for additional eye diseases, we believe it is the perfect time to launch KALA BIO and highlight our new mission of delivering a suite of novel biologics to improve the care and treatment of rare ocular diseases.”
KALA BIO’s MSC-S are produced by collecting the biomolecules secreted by human bone marrow derived mesenchymal stem cells, offering the potential for benefits similar to cell therapy while avoiding the safety and logistical concerns that are associated with existing cell therapy approaches. KALA BIO’s most advanced MSC-S is KPI-012, which is currently in Phase 2b clinical development for the treatment of PCED. KALA BIO believes the multifactorial mechanism of action of KPI-012 makes it a platform technology and is evaluating the potential development of KPI-012 for additional rare, front-of-the-eye diseases, such as Limbal Stem Cell Deficiency. KALA BIO has also initiated preclinical studies for its KPI-014 program, evaluating the utility of its MSC-S platform for inherited retinal degenerative diseases, such as Retinitis Pigmentosa and Stargardt Disease.
In connection with the name change, KALA BIO’s corporate website address remains unchanged at www.kalarx.com. The company’s common stock will continue to be listed on The Nasdaq Capital Market under the ticker symbol “KALA”, and trading on The Nasdaq Capital Market under the new name is expected to commence on August 3, 2023. The number of outstanding shares of the company’s common stock, and the CUSIP number for the common stock are not affected by the name change.
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