OKYO Pharma Announces Plans to Accelerate the Clinical Development of Urcosimod to Treat Neuropathic Corneal Pain Urcosimod phase 2 trial treating Neuropathic Corneal Pain ("NCP") patients was initiated in October 2024 a

Pharma Announces Plans to Accelerate the Clinical Development of Urcosimod to Treat Neuropathic Corneal Pain

and New York, NY, April 30, 2025. OKYO Pharma Limited (NASDAQ: OKYO), an ophthalmology-focused bio-pharmaceutical company which is developing

urcosimod (formerly called OK-101) to treat NCP, an ocular condition associated with chronic and

often severe pain but without an FDA-approved therapy, announces plans to accelerate the clinical development of urcosimod to

treat NCP through the analysis of its data following the early closure of its Phase 2 trial.

Phase 2 trial of urcosimod to treat NCP was being conducted at a single trial site at Tufts Medical Center in Boston, MA. The decision

to close the trial now, with 17 patients having presently completed the study, is due to OKYO's strong desire to access the currently

masked data and use it to plan its expanded development program. The patients participating in the trial have all been diagnosed with

long term chronic neuropathic corneal pain and had previously been treated with multiple therapies with very limited or no response.

Significant interest has been seen in the trial from long-term sufferers of NCP, and OKYO believes it should expand the development program

and move forward with a multicenter trial. A considerable number of potential patients have expressed an interest in participating in

a future registrational trial.

number of patients who have now completed the trial have requested continued compassionate use of urcosimod which the Company is seeking

to arrange with Tufts Medical Center, subject to the necessary FDA consents.

ending this trial now, we believe we can save time in advancing the program to a meeting with FDA to discuss further development of urcosimod,"

commented Gary S. Jacob, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of OKYO Pharma. "We anticipate that the analysis of the data from these

patients with the closing of this trial should take no longer than 6 weeks. Urcosimod has already demonstrated favorable safety and

placebo-like tolerability in our previous 240 patient Phase 2 trial. The decision to close the trial now significantly cuts the time

to our requesting an end-of-phase 2 meeting with FDA to explore accelerated plans for the drug's further clinical development.

I want to also thank our patients and study site team for their participation and commitment to this important trial of urcosimod to

corneal pain is a condition that causes severe pain and sensitivity of the eyes, face, or head. The exact cause of neuropathic corneal

pain is unknown but is thought to result from nerve damage to the cornea combined with inflammation. Neuropathic corneal pain, which

can exhibit as a severe, chronic, debilitating condition in patients suffering from a host of ophthalmic conditions, is presently treated

by various topical and systemic treatments in an off-label fashion. Notably, there is no FDA approved drug to treat this debilitating

the Urcosimod Phase 2 Trial in NCP Patients

Phase 2 study was designed as a double-masked, randomized, 12-week placebo-controlled trial in NCP patients. A total of 48 patients were

planned to enroll for the study, with NCP disease confirmed via confocal microscopy.

Urcosimod (Formerly called OK-101)

is a lipid conjugated chemerin peptide agonist of the ChemR23 G-protein coupled receptor which is typically found on immune cells of

the eye responsible for the inflammatory response, as well as on neurons and glial cells in the dorsal root ganglion. Urcosimod was developed

using a membrane-anchored-peptide technology to produce a novel long-acting drug candidate for treating dry eye disease. Urcosimod has

been shown to produce anti-inflammatory and pain-reducing activities in mouse models of dry eye disease and corneal neuropathic pain,

respectively, and is designed to combat washout through the inclusion of the lipid anchor built into the drug molecule to potentially

enhance the residence time of urcosimod within the ocular environment. Urcosimod showed clear statistical significance in multiple endpoints

in a recently completed Phase 2, multi-center, double-masked, placebo-controlled trial to treat dry eye disease, and was also being evaluated

in a randomized, placebo-controlled, double-masked Phase 2 trial to treat neuropathic corneal pain

Pharma Limited (NASDAQ: OKYO) is a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company developing innovative therapies for the treatment of neuropathic

corneal pain and dry eye disease, with ordinary shares listed for trading on the NASDAQ Capital Market. OKYO is focused on the discovery

and development of novel molecules to treat neuropathic corneal pain and dry eye disease. In addition to the completed Phase 2 trial

of urcosimod to treat dry eye disease patients, OKYO is also currently evaluating urcosimod to treat neuropathic corneal pain patients.

further information, please visit www.okyopharma.com.