EyePoint Pharmaceuticals announced Wednesday that it has promoted Jay Duker to serve as president and chief operating officer.

Duker, who has served as COO since November 2021, added the role of president to his list of responsibilities, overseeing the pharma company’s regulatory affairs. 

Duker served as an independent member of EyePoint’s board of directors starting in 2016 before the company named him as chief strategic scientific officer on a part-time basis in 2020. 

He previously served as director of the New England Eye Center and chair of ophthalmology at Tufts Medical Center and the Tufts University School of Medicine.

A cofounder of several medical startups, Duker led Hemera Biosciences until its lead investigational gene therapy HMR59 was acquired by Janssen in 2020. He also serves as chair of the board of Sesen Bio. 

“Jay has been a tremendous asset to our team since he joined as COO, and we look forward to continuing to benefit from his strong leadership in his additional role as President,” EyePoint CEO Nancy Lurker said in a statement. “Jay has helped to strengthen our organization in the past year, as we made significant progress across our pipeline of exciting and innovative ocular products, including reporting positive data for our Phase 1 DAVIO trial in wet AMD and the initiation of two Phase 2 trials for EYP-1901.” 

The company dosed its first patient in the Phase 2 PAVIA clinical trial of EYP-1901 in September and the 12-month, randomized, controlled trial is expected to enroll more than 100 patients, according to EyePoint’s most recent earnings report.  

Duker said it has been a privilege to work with EyePoint’s team on innovative ocular therapies seeking to help patients suffering from serious eye disorders.

“I am excited to expand my role in the company, as we advance the clinical trials of our sustained release anti-VEGF, EYP-1901, which acts through a unique mechanism of action,” he said in a statement. “We hope that EYP-1901 proves to be a safe, effective, and well tolerated six-month treatment option for patients with wet AMD and a potential nine-month treatment for those with non-proliferative diabetic retinopathy.”