New York, June 1, 2026, 12:05 EDT
- Opus Genetics shares were down 1.6% at $4.29 late in Monday morning trading.
- The company is set to present at a Jefferies healthcare conference on June 3, which is the next investor event on its calendar.
- The stock is up more than 100% this year, but the company is posting losses and clinical data is still the main swing factor.
Opus Genetics Inc. shares eased late Monday morning, retracing some of Friday’s advance. Investors are watching for the gene-therapy company’s slot at the Jefferies Global Healthcare Conference this week.
The stock, which trades on the Nasdaq, slipped 7 cents to $4.29, off 1.6%. Shares opened at $4.40 and ranged from $4.20 to $4.49. Volume was roughly 288,500 shares. Market cap sat near $373 million.
Opus is heading into a period with multiple investor events and clinical milestones coming up. Management presents at Jefferies in New York on Wednesday, June 3, at 8:45 a.m. ET. The conference runs June 2-4, with a focus on biotech, medtech and other healthcare companies.
Opus is working on gene therapies for inherited retinal diseases, or IRDs, which can harm the retina and cause serious vision loss. The company has seven programs in its pipeline, all using AAV vectors to move genetic material into cells.
Opus’s latest filing on May 28 didn’t mention any clinical progress. The company said its board compensation panel granted inducement options for 698,000 shares to 10 non-executive staff. The move was made under Nasdaq Listing Rule 5635(c)(4), which deals with equity awards for new hires.
Opus shares had surged about 109% this year, according to MarketScreener, despite a recent soft patch. That’s when the hiring-related award came through. The site also noted that Leerink Partners began covering Opus with an outperform rating and a $10 price target on May 21.
Small biotech stocks tracked lower again. The SPDR S&P Biotech ETF dropped 1.9%. 4D Molecular Therapeutics sank 4.3% and MeiraGTx lost 5.6% as ocular and gene-medicine players sold off too.
Opus is still focused on clinical work. In its May 12 release, the company said results from Cohort 1 of the OPGx-BEST1 gene therapy trial are due in September. Opus also said the OPGx-LCA5 program is now part of the FDA’s Rare Disease Evidence Principles program, and it expects the RDH12, MERTK, and RHO gene therapy projects to begin clinical trials in the next year.
Opus CEO George Magrath said in the release the company is seeing “encouraging momentum across both our LCA5 and BEST1 gene therapy programs.” Magrath called this a “defining stretch” for Opus. He pointed to the BEST1 data and June R&D forum as new chances to show the “depth and maturity” of the pipeline. Opus Genetics, Inc.
Opus’s balance sheet factors into the bull case. The company reported $60 million in cash and cash equivalents at March 31 and said current cash stood at about $90 million after the Oberland Capital deal. Opus expects this will fund operations into 2029, not counting possible warrant cash or milestones.
Here’s the catch. Opus is still in the clinic, with no approved retinal gene-therapy, and losses are up. The company’s net loss in the first quarter jumped to $65.5 million from $8.2 million a year ago, mostly due to a non-cash warrant-liability charge and more R&D spending. Any weak data, trial delays, or broader biotech weakness could flip the story fast.
