What happened

Shares of EyePoint Pharmaceuticals (EYPT 3.65%) were up more than 20% as of 2:30 p.m. ET on Monday after the healthcare company announced interim masked trial data for its lead therapy to treat two different eye diseases. The stock is up more than 36% so far this year.

So what

EyePoint is a pharmaceutical company that specializes in therapies for serious eye diseases. It has brought two therapies to market: Dexycu, used to reduce inflammation in patients who have had ocular surgery, and Yutiq, used to treat chronic non-infectious uveitis affecting the posterior segment of the eye.

On Monday, the company said that its lead pipeline candidate, EYP-1901, is performing well in phase 2 clinical trials. The first trial is to treat moderate-to-severe non-proliferative diabetic retinopathy, and the second is as a maintenance therapy for wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD).

According to Jay S. Duker,  President and Chief Executive Officer of EyePoint: 

We remain very encouraged by the positive masked safety results that EYP-1901 has produced to date in the 17 patients dosed in the Phase 1 DAVIO trial in wet AMD, as well as approximately 150 additional patients in our two Phase 2 clinical trials: DAVIO 2 and PAVIA. These results bolster our confidence in EYP-1901 as a potentially paradigm-shifting treatment for patients who would benefit from a safe, sustained therapeutic option for VEGF-mediated diseases.

The company is on track to share top-line results from the DAVIO trial in December and from the PAVIA trial in the second quarter of next year.

Now what

EyePoint has a relatively small pipeline with four programs, so a lot is riding on EYP-1901. However, it's in an enviable position, with no debt. It has $142 million in cash after the company sold the rights to Yutig for $85 million. That's enough, the company said, to fund operations into 2025.

EyePoint is in a transition phase after selling Yutiq and seeing lower sales of Dexycu. In the second quarter, the company reported revenue of $9.1 million, down 27% year over year, and a net loss of $22.9 million, compared to a net loss of $19.4 million in the same period a year ago.