The biopharmaceutical company Oculis (Nasdaq: OCS) aims to list on the Nasdaq Iceland Main Market later this month. The Central Bank of Iceland, Financial Supervision, approved Oculis’s prospectus relating to the listing on the Main Market. The company will subsequently be dual‑listed in Iceland and on Nasdaq in New York. Its shares were first admitted to trading on Nasdaq over a year ago, but the company was originally founded in Iceland and its drug development is based on years of research by Icelandic scientists at the University of Iceland and Landspítali National Hospital.
Ahead of the listing, the company raised about ISK 8.2 billion (USD 59 million) from Icelandic institutional investors and existing shareholders. The offering price was USD 11.75 per share, and a formal announcement will be made one day prior to the shares being admitted to trading on Nasdaq Iceland.
"We are pleased to become one of the few dual-listed biotech companies in the U.S. as well as Iceland, where the proprietary OPTIREACH® technology was invented,” said Riad Sherif, M.D., Chief Executive Officer of Oculis. “We are grateful for the support of our new investor syndicate, a group that shares our commitment to save sight and improve eye care with potentially transformative therapies. Additionally, we look forward to sharing the topline results from our OCS-02 Phase 2b RELIEF trial later this quarter.”
Icelandic institutional investors, along with other investors, provided the equivalent of ISK 8.2 billion (USD 59 million) in the funding round conducted prior to the dual listing. Oculis intends to use the net proceeds from the Financing to advance and accelerate its clinical development pipeline, as well as for working capital and general corporate purposes. Oculis believes that the net proceeds from the Financing, together with its current cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments, will be sufficient to fund operations and capital expenditure requirements into the second half of 2026.
Oculis recently reported positive results from two clinical studies on OCS‑01, eye drops based on the company’s Optireach® technology. The drops significantly improved vision in patients with diabetic macular edema—typically treated with injections—and reduced inflammation and pain after cataract surgery, requiring only once‑daily dosing compared to 3–4 times daily for older treatments.
Results from several more clinical studies are expected later this year, including second‑quarter results for OCS‑02 (a TNF‑inhibitor biotech eye drop for severe dry eye) and fourth‑quarter results for OCS‑05 for the treatment of optic neuritis.
Arctica Finance ehf. provided process oversight for the listing of Oculis’s shares on the Main Market and served as Oculis’s financial advisor with regard to the Financing. BBA//Fjeldco, Cooley LLP and Vischer AG served as legal advisors to Oculis in connection with the Main Market listing and the Financing.
Oculis has accepted subscriptions from participants in the financing on the condition that settlement and delivery of the shares will take place on 22 April, subject to all customary conditions being met.
Oculis is a global biopharmaceutical company (Nasdaq: OCS) purposefully driven to save sight and improve eye care. Oculis’s highly differentiated pipeline comprises multiple innovative product candidates in development. It includes OCS-01, a topical eye drop candidate for diabetic macular edema (DME) and for the treatment of inflammation and pain following cataract surgery; OCS-02 (licaminlimab), a topical biologic anti-TNFα eye drop candidate for dry eye disease (DED) and for non-infectious anterior uveitis; and OCS-05, a disease modifying candidate for acute optic neuritis (AON) and other neuro-ophthalmic disorders such as glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy, geographic atrophy, and neurotrophic keratitis. Headquartered in Switzerland and with operations in the U.S. and Iceland, Oculis’s goal is to deliver life-changing treatments to patients worldwide. The company is led by an experienced management team with a successful track record and is supported by leading international healthcare investors.
For more information, please visit: www.oculis.com.
