AbbVie, Inc.

Alex Tzoukas joins Epikast's Board of Directors Epikast co-founded by biotechnology luminary Dr. Stelios Papadopoulos NEW YORK and ATHENS, Greece, Jan. 30, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Kos Biotechnology Partners ("Kos"), a global life sciences investment firm, today announced the closing of a financing round in Epikast, a premier provider of technology-enabled commercial and clinical services for the biopharmaceutical industry. This transaction marks the first investment from Kos' inaugural fund, which is focused on a broad range of investment stages, including the seeding and scaling of high-impact life sciences platforms. Kos led the round with significant participation from a syndicate of new and existing investors. In conjunction with the financing, Alex Tzoukas, Managing Partner and Co-Founder at Kos, will join Epikast's Board of Directors. The capital infusion will enhance Epikast's proprietary technology platform and the scaling of its specialized service teams. Epikast bridges the gap between high-level medical expertise and cost-efficient operations by leveraging its Greece-based operational hub to serve global biopharmaceutical clients. Alex Tzoukas, Managing Partner and Co-Founder of Kos Biotechnology Partners commented: "Epikast represents an exciting investment for our new fund. The company has developed a differentiated, tech-enabled pharma services model that addresses a clear inefficiency in how biopharma companies engage with healthcare providers and patients. We are pleased to lead this round and support the company as it scales." Dr. Stelios Papadopoulos, Chairman of Epikast, added: "We are pleased to welcome Kos Biotechnology Partners as lead investor in this round. Kos brings deep sector expertise and a strong connection to both the US and Greek innovation ecosystems, which aligns well with Epikast's operating model. Alex's addition to the board adds valuable perspective as we enter the next phase of growth." Dr. Simos Simeonidis, Managing Partner and Co-Founder of Kos Biotechnology Partners commented: "We are pleased to partner with Stelios and his team at Epikast with the first investment from our fund. Alex's deep background as a life sciences investor, investment banker, and operator will further enhance the strong expertise already present on Epikast's Board." Dr. Vangelis Vergetis, CEO of Epikast, concluded: "This financing reinforces Epikast's strong momentum. We place a premium on partnering with individuals who bring deep expertise and strong judgment. Alex Tzoukas, Simos Simeonidis, and Nikos Kostaras exemplify that and will be valuable partners as we advance our next phase." About Epikast Epikast is a technology-enabled biopharmaceutical services company headquartered in New York with core operations in Athens, Greece. The company provides a comprehensive suite of remote commercial, medical, market access, and patient support services. By combining highly trained medical professionals with a proprietary technology stack, Epikast delivers high-quality engagement and data-driven insights to biopharma clients at a significantly optimized cost structure. It currently partners with several global top 10 pharma companies and smaller biotechnology companies as they commercialize their products in the US and Europe. About Kos Biotechnology Partners Kos Biotechnology Partners is a global investment firm founded in 2025 by Dr. Simos Simeonidis and Alex Tzoukas, with a focus on identifying, supporting, and scaling innovative, high-potential opportunities in the life sciences sector. With the launch of its inaugural fund, Kos partners with experienced management teams to build enduring products, services, and platforms through strategic capital, deep operational expertise, and a long-term perspective on value creation. Media Contacts: [email protected], [email protected] SOURCE Kos Biotechnology Partners 21% more press release views with Request a Demo

Tenpoint Therapeutics' newly approved Yuvezzi can improve the up-close vision of patients with presbyopia, potentially allowing them to discard their reading glasses. Combining two eye drops that have been on the market for at least 30 years each has earned Tenpoint Therapeutics an FDA approval (PDF) for Yuvezzi, a treatment for presbyopia, a common, age-related condition that makes it difficult to focus on nearby objects.Yuvezzi, which is a solution of 2.75% carbachol and 0.1% brimonidine tartrate, becomes the first combination treatment for presbyopia, which affects roughly 2 billion around the world and 128 million in the United States.Carbachol reached the market in 1972 as Alcon’s Miostat to dilate pupils during cataract surgeries. Brimonidine tartrate was commercialized in 1996 by Allergan as an ocular hypertension eye drop and most recently by Bausch+Lomb as Lumify, a treatment to reduce eye redness.Along with the approval, London-based Tenpoint raised (PDF) a Series B round of $85 million led by Janus Henderson, EQT Nexus, Hillhouse and the British Business Bank. Additionally, Tenpoint has secured a $150 million debt facility from Hercules Capital, which the company will pull down in installments.The funding will facilitate Yuvezzi’s launch, which Tenpoint expects to kick off early in the second quarter of this year.Yuvezzi—also known as Brimochol PF—was originally developed by Visus Therapeutics, a seven-year-old Seattle company, which merged 13 months ago with Tenpoint. Forging the partnership was the chairman of both biotechs, David Guyer, M.D.“(Visus) had a pretty narrow group of key investors, but they had a really exciting pipeline,” Tenpoint CEO Henric Bjarke said in an interview with Fierce. “And then you had Tenpoint, which had a very exciting but early-stage pipeline. And they had a broad base of investors.”Bjarke, who took over in December of 2024, was brought in for his experience launching ophthalmic drugs. He said Tenpoint recently reached a headcount of 100 and has hired two-thirds of its sales force, which will eventually include 76 sales reps targeting 12,200 physicians across 8,800 offices. By the end of this year, Bjarke expects to have 180 to 200 employees on board.The approval was backed by two phase 3 trials. The first study demonstrated Yuvezzi’s superiority over its individual components, which is a requirement the FDA imposes on fixed-dose combo treatments. The vehicle-controlled second study achieved all vision improvement endpoints and sustained efficacy measures over eight hours. With participants receiving treatments for 12 months, which is the longest safety study ever conducted for presbyopia, there were no serious adverse treatment effects.The dual action provided by Yuvezzi includes carbachol to constrict the eye’s pupil and brimonidine to stop it from dilating. Keeping the pupil small creates a pinhole effect, improving visual acuity and depth of focus.“Carbachol is the drug that creates the miotic effect, or the reduction of the size of your pupil,” Bjarke explained. “And brimonidine increases the amount of carbachol that reaches the target tissue, so you get better effect and longer duration.” The approval of Yuvezzi comes just six months after the FDA signed off on another presbyopia treatment, Lenz Therapeutics’ eye drop Vizz. Analysts at William Blair have pegged Vizz, which has a unique mechanism of action, as a potential blockbuster.Other presbyopia drugs have had difficulty gaining a foothold in the market. Much was expected of AbbVie’s Vuity, which was approved in 2021, but the product hasn’t generated enough revenue to appear in the company’s quarterly financial reports. Orasis Pharmaceuticals scored a 2023 FDA approval for presbyopia drug Qlosi but the company didn’t launch the eye drop until April of 2025.“We have a competitive product. We have an innovative product and we have a strong story to tell around it,” Bjarke said when asked about other competition.Bjarke calls the market “enormous” and believes there is room for multiple products.“If you are an individual who’s had glasses all your life, this might not be something for you,” Bjarke said. “But people who live an active life—either through work or through hobbies—where they go to their activity and it forces them to put on and take off their glass, it’s very frustrating.” In his practice in Laguna Hills, California, John Hovanesian, M.D., of Harvard Eye Associates, sees many patients who are looking for another alternative.“The impact of presbyopia is often underestimated and current solutions like glasses, contacts or surgery have fallen short in meeting the real-world needs of people who struggle with close-up tasks,” Hovanesian said in the release.

The leader in the next frontier of immuno-oncology officially has a date with the FDA. Summit Therapeutics announced Thursday morning that US regulators have accepted its submission package for the experimental drug ivonescimab, a bispecific antibody targeting PD-1 and VEGF, to treat a specific form of lung cancer. FDA is expected to make a decision on whether to approve the drug by Nov. 14. Thursday’s announcement marks the first FDA review for a new class of drugs that is expected to advance I-O efforts just as the best-selling PD-(L)1 inhibitors approach their patent cliffs. It also comes after a bumpy 2025 for Summit and as a field of significant competitors emerged, including Bristol Myers Squibb, Pfizer, Merck and AbbVie. Ivonescimab’s review will likely be closely scrutinized as the broader pharma industry aims to see how receptive the FDA is to these bispecifics. Notably, regulators already granted Summit permission for an unusual trial design: The study was originally conducted only in China, but FDA allowed Summit to enroll Western patients several months after all Chinese participants had started in the study. The “sequential nature” of the trial caused a large divergence in follow-up times between patients in and outside China, execs have previously said. Co-CEO Bob Duggan has also emphasized that the permission for sequential enrollment was unexpected. Despite this scrutiny, the market for this specific lung cancer population — second-line treatment for patients with EGFR-mutated non-squamous non-small cell lung cancer — is not expected to be large. Analysts have estimated peak sales at about $500 million per year, though there is greater potential in first-line lung cancer and other types of tumors . In a press release, Summit said it expects the review to proceed normally, with all aspects being completed “subject to major deficiencies not being identified.” That includes ivonescimab’s potential label, according to Summit. Labeling discussions caused the FDA to miss another company’s deadline last month, when Agios said regulators wouldn’t meet a Dec. 7 PDUFA date for its blood disorder drug Pyrukynd. Agios’ review was previously delayed due to safety concerns. Another FDA review last June for KalVista was delayed due to agency resource constraints and, as Endpoints News later reported , an attempt by Commissioner Marty Makary to reject the drug. KalVista’s drug, called Ekterly, was eventually approved in July.