EyePoint Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced that Jay S. Duker, MD, has transitioned from COO and president to CEO (and president), effective July 10, 2023.
Who is he replacing?
Nancy S. Lurker, who served as CEO and president since 2016, has stepped down as leader and is now the company’s executive vice president chair of the company’s Board of Directors.
What’s his background?
Dr. Duker was previously the director of the New England Eye Center, chair of Ophthalmology at Tufts Medical Center and Tufts University School of Medicine, and chairman of the Board of Sesen Bio.
He also co-founded three-startups, with the most notable being Hemera Biosciences—a gene therapy company for dry macular degeneration that was purchased by Janssen Pharmaceuticals in 2020.
And his history with EyePoint?
Dr. Duker originally joined EyePoint in 2016 as an independent member of the Board of Directors until 2020, when he was appointed CSO on a part-time basis.
He later transitioned full-time as COO in November 2021.
What’s been his focus thus far?
As COO, Dr. Duker oversaw the company’s clinical development, research, product development, and manufacturing.
Tell me more about these developments.
Notable clinical advancements have included:
- Launch and sale (to Alimera Sciences) of YUTIQ (May 2023)
- Positive 12-month data from phase 1 DAVIO trial (NCT04747197) for wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD) (June 2022)
- Launch of two phase 2 trials for EYP-1901
- Phase 2 DAVIO2 trial for wet AMD (NCT05381948)
- First patient dosed in August 2022; topline data expected later in 2023.
- Phase 2 PAVIA trial for nonproliferative diabetic retinopathy (NPDR) (NCT05383209)
- Patient enrollment concluded in June 2023 (read here for more details)
- Phase 2 DAVIO2 trial for wet AMD (NCT05381948)
Refresh me on EYP-1901.
The small-molecule, anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) therapy is in clinical development as a twice-yearly, single-dose intravitreal injection for the following ocular conditions:
- NPDR → 9-month maintenance therapy
- Wet AMD → 6-month maintenance therapy
- Diabetic macular edema (DME) → 6-month maintenance therapy
According to EyePoint’s pipeline, EYP-1901 is slated as a potential candidate for dry AMD and geographic atrophy (GA) in 2024.
Gotcha. Any words from the new CEO?
Indeed. In a company news release, Dr. Duker expressed his outlook for the future of EyePoint:
“With our strong balance sheet, the anticipated readouts of our two phase 1 trials of [EYP]-1901 in wet AMD and NPDR during the next nine months and the planned initiation of a third phase 2 trial in DME in the first quarter of 2024, EyePoint is well-positioned to grow as a leader in sustained ocular drug delivery and bring first-in-class therapeutics to patients,” he stated.