Nicox S.A. announced positive post hoc results from its Mississippi Phase 2b clinical trial suggesting that once-daily dosed NCX 4251, fluticasone propionate ophthalmic suspension 0.1%, is effective in reducing dry eye symptoms in a subgroup of patients. The new results show that, for a subgroup of patients scoring more highly for a key sign of dry eye, statistically significant improvements in the number of dry eye symptoms and improvements in one sign (p=0.0524) were seen. The top-line results from the trial, which did not meet the primary or secondary efficacy endpoints, were reported on September 23, 2021. The post hoc analyses identified a subgroup of patients (123 of 224 patients) with baseline scores =2.0 on a scale of 0 (none) to 4 (severe) for inferior cornea fluorescein staining, a key sign of dry eye disease. In this patient group, the analysis demonstrated a statistically significant difference against placebo for change from baseline in eye dryness scores as assessed on a Visual Analog Scale at Day 8 (p=0.0085), Day 11 (p=0.0020) and Day 15 (p?Dry eye disease is reported in some 70-80% of patients with blepharitis. The positive impact of NCX 4251 on the multitude of symptoms associated with dry eye disease in a substantial subgroup of blepharitis patients in the trial provides a compelling rationale to explore a targeted approach to the future development of the program with the FDA. NCX 4251 was found to be safe and well-tolerated over 14 days? treatment, with no serious adverse events, and all of the adverse events for the NCX 4251 treatment arm were mild. There were no discontinuations in the study due to adverse events.