Histogenics Corporation (HSGX)

Histogenics Corporation was a regenerative medicine company working on treatments for cartilage damage in the knee. Its lead product, NeoCart, was an autologous implant grown from a patient's own cartilage cells and designed to repair knee lesions. The company was based in Waltham, Massachusetts. It aimed to offer an alternative to existing cartilage repair procedures that often required long recovery times.

Histogenics went public on NASDAQ in December 2014 under the symbol HSGX. Proceeds funded a Phase 3 trial of NeoCart against microfracture surgery. In September 2018 the company reported that the trial had failed to meet its primary endpoint, a setback that sent the stock sharply lower. Management then cut costs and began exploring strategic alternatives.

In April 2019 Histogenics agreed to a reverse merger with Ocugen, a private company in Malvern, Pennsylvania developing therapies for eye diseases. The deal closed on September 27, 2019. Histogenics carried out a 1-for-60 reverse stock split just before closing and changed its name to Ocugen, Inc. Former Ocugen holders ended up with about 86 percent of the combined company and Histogenics holders about 14 percent.

The listed entity kept its NASDAQ listing, and its shares began trading under the new symbol OCGN on September 30, 2019, with a new CUSIP. Ocugen later became widely known for its work on gene therapies for retinal diseases and its efforts to bring a COVID-19 vaccine to the U.S. market. The HSGX symbol was retired with the name change.