Okyo Pharma Limited announced new positive findings from an exploratory analysis of patient-reported outcomes in its recently completed phase 2a trial of urcosimod (0.05%) for the treatment of neuropathic corneal pain (NCP). This new quality-of-life (QoL) data will be presented at the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) 2026 Annual Meeting. The presentation, titled, “First-in-human study of urcosimod to treat neuropathic corneal pain shows clinically meaningful pain reduction and quality-of-life improvement in NCP patients,” will detail the phase 2a clinical trial results, including reductions in pain as measured by the Visual Analog Scale (VAS), improvements in patient-reported QoL measures, and signals suggesting potential restoration of corneal nerve structure in NCP patients, the company said in a press release.

In this phase 2, randomized, double-masked, placebo-controlled study, patients with NCP received either 0.05% urcosimod (n = 6) or placebo (n = 6) in the Intent-to-Treat (ITT) population. After 12 weeks of treatment, patients receiving urcosimod demonstrated greater improvements across key aspects of emotional wellbeing and quality of life compared to placebo. These measures were assessed on a 0–10 scale.

According to the company, notable improvements included:

• Enjoying life/relationships with other people: mean change from baseline of −4.5 (Interquartile Range [IQR] −6.00 to −0.75) for urcosimod vs 0 (IQR  −4.75 to 1.25) for placebo.

• Mood: mean change of −1.5 (IQR −5.25 to 0.25) for urcosimod vs −0.5 (IQR −4.75 to 2.25) for placebo.

• Time spent thinking about eye pain: mean change of −3.0 (IQR −5.00 to 0.00) for urcosimod vs −1.5 (IQR −4.00 to 0.00) for placebo.

These secondary findings build on the primary efficacy signals from the trial, where urcosimod previously demonstrated meaningful reductions in pain as measured by the VAS. The exploratory patient-reported outcomes data suggest that urcosimod may provide broader therapeutic benefits, contributing to enhanced emotional wellbeing and overall day-to-day life satisfaction for patients, the company said.

Okyo Pharma said it is planning confirmatory studies to validate these exploratory results as part of its ongoing program, including a planned larger multi-center phase 2b/3 trial.