Ocular Therapeutix Shares Plunge Despite Trial Success Against Eylea

Ocular Therapeutix, Inc. OCUL announced on February 17, 2026, that its experimental eye drug Axpaxli demonstrated statistical superiority to Eylea, a product of Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. REGN, in a key late-stage wet age-related macular degeneration clinical trial. While the trial met its primary efficacy endpoint, the company’s shares fell by approximately 30% following the announcement. The results are expected to inform upcoming discussions with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in the US US and will support a planned marketing application for the treatment.

The late-stage trial, which enrolled 344 patients, is described as the first investigational treatment to show better results than an approved treatment in a study meeting strict FDA standards. At week 36, Axpaxli showed an efficacy advantage of about an 18-percentage-point difference compared to Eylea. However, this measured advantage was considered modest relative to investor benchmarks, as some market participants had anticipated larger gaps between the two treatments than what was observed in the data.