Kodiak Sciences shares soar 68% on successful late-stage study of eye drug Zenkuda.

Kodiak Sciences shares surged 68.6% after its experimental drug, Zenkuda, met the main goal in a late-stage study for diabetic retinopathy. The drug showed a 62.5% improvement in retinopathy severity and an 85% reduction in sight-threatening complications. Zenkuda is designed to block a protein linked to harmful blood-vessel growth in the retina and was well-tolerated in the study. Kodiak plans to accelerate the submission for FDA approval and the positive safety data also de-risks its study in wet age-related macular degeneration.