Unicycive Therapeutics' Geographic Atrophy Candidate Shows Improved Contrast Vision In Animal Studies

Unicycive Therapeutics Inc UNCY announced key findings of UNI-494 efficacy from a preclinical study in Geographic Atrophy (GA).
UNI-494 is a mitochondrial potassium channel (mitochondrial KATP) activator in development for treating diseases affected by mitochondrial dysfunction, such as kidney, liver, and ocular diseases. Mitochondrial dysfunction is implicated in Age-related Macular Degeneration (AMD) progression.
GA is an advanced form of AMD. The company evaluated the effect of UNI-494 in preventing visual function loss in a rat model of GA.
The study evaluated four groups (n=8 per group): untreated, vehicle control, low dose of UNI-494, and high dose of UNI-494.
Treatment of animals with the high dose of UNI-494 resulted in 150% and 200% improvement in contrast vision compared to vehicle and untreated animals.
The company says it is on track to initiate a Phase I study in healthy volunteers during the first quarter of 2023 in the U.K. following clearance by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency.
Price Action: UNCY shares are trading at $0.74 on the last check Monday.