Ocugen is trying to build an international business before its lead therapy has even cleared the clinic. That is a difficult order in biotech, and the market is treating it as such.
The shares finished the latest session at EUR 0.7520, down 5.5 percent on the day. In the current trading day, they were quoted at EUR 0.7370, a decline of 7.4 percent and just 2.8 percent above the 52-week low of EUR 0.7170. Since the start of the year, the stock has lost 40 percent.
At the same time, the company has been busy laying commercial groundwork abroad. Ocugen announced an exclusive license agreement with Roots Pharmaceutical and Al-Dhow International Holding for OCU400 in the Middle East and North Africa, covering the treatment of retinitis pigmentosa, a degenerative retinal disease. The company said the prevalence of that condition in the MENA region is about 10- to 20-times higher than in the United States or the European Union.
Under the deal, Ocugen is entitled to development and upfront payments of up to $4 million, milestone payments of up to $255 million, and a 22 percent royalty on Roots’ net sales. Ocugen will retain responsibility for manufacturing and supply.
The MENA agreement comes alongside another international step: Ocugen appointed Jolanda Crombach as general manager of its European subsidiary in Amsterdam on October 6. She is expected to coordinate planned regulatory filings, the Phase 3 development of OCU410 and a possible commercial launch in Europe.
Those ambitions, however, rest on a much less comfortable foundation. On October 5, the company again postponed an extraordinary shareholder meeting on a proposal to authorize 250,000,000 additional common shares. The meeting is now set to resume on October 26, 2026.
Should investors sell immediately? Or is it worth buying Ocugen?
The financing question matters because Ocugen is simultaneously funding a broad clinical program. The main catalyst remains the Phase 3 liMeliGhT study for OCU400, with topline results expected in the first quarter of 2027. Only after robust data are in hand can the company formally submit regulatory applications in the United States and Europe.
That timeline explains why the new licensing revenue has not yet changed investor sentiment. The deal’s economics depend on a successful clinical readout and eventual approval. Without that, the promised payments remain theoretical.
Ocugen is also not relying on a single asset. OCU410, being developed for geographic atrophy in dry age-related macular degeneration, and OCU410ST, targeting Stargardt disease, are both in Phase 3 as well. If the company can validate its platform, the combination of programs and regional partnerships could support a broader reassessment of the business.
For now, though, shareholders are focused on dilution risk and cash burn. Ocugen’s CEO, Shankar Musunuri, sold 525,991 shares on October 9 at a weighted average price of $0.95 under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan, a transaction that adds to the market’s caution in an already weak tape.
Investors therefore face a straightforward but uncomfortable trade-off. On one side are the commercial rights, the European build-out and the potential for as much as $255 million in milestone payments. On the other are the still-experimental therapies, the need for fresh capital and the wait until the first quarter of 2027 for the next major data point.
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