Tenpoint Therapeutics merges with Visus Therapeutics

UCLB spinout Tenpoint Therapeutics has merged with Visus Therapeutics to create a leading force in ophthalmic therapeutic medicines aimed at rejuvenating the aging eye. 

The merger, which sees Henric Bjarke joining as CEO, with Ben Bergo of Visus named President and CBO initiates a cross-over Financing Round with participation from syndicate members including F-Prime, Sofinnova, EQT Partners, British Patient Capital, Qiming, AdBio and Eight Roads. 

The merger brings together a late stage, potentially best-in-class, presbyopia-correcting eyedrop, BRIMOCHOL™ PF, on track for NDA filing in H1, 2025, along with a pipeline of innovative therapeutics.   

Bjarke brings extensive commercial and operational leadership experience in the biopharmaceutical industry, with a focus on ophthalmology, haematology, and orphan diseases. He has held senior roles at companies including, Inozyme Pharma, Ophthotech, Alexion Pharmaceuticals, (OSI) Eyetech, and Pharmacia. 

He said: “As we relaunch Tenpoint as a combined entity with Visus, we are excited to lead with a robust Ophthalmology pipeline, starting with BRIMICHOL™ PF, a near-term therapeutic medicine for presbyopia alongside other innovative therapies to treat Cataract and Geographic Atrophy. With our combined teams, we have the right expertise to develop and successfully launch innovative products with the potential to be first and best in class in ophthalmic medicines.” 

UCLB’s Director of Biopharm, Rick Fagan, added: “This is an exciting step for Tenpoint whose expertise is well complemented by Visus’ expert team, and the two companies will be stronger combined.” 

Tenpoint was founded in 2020 by Professor Pete Coffey and Lyndon de la Cruz from UCL, Deniz Dalkara and Olivier Goureau from INSERM in France and Thomas Rey PhD from the university of Washington. The company was established with the support of UCLB. 

Product pipeline 

Tenpoint’s pipeline is comprised of three innovative programs aimed at rejuvenating the aging eye: 

BRIMOCHOL™ PF: a unique and patent-protected combination of carbachol, a potent miotic, and brimonidine, an alpha2-agonist. This combination enhances peak efficacy and extends duration; and through the vasoconstrictive properties of brimonidine, helps reduce ocular redness offering a potentially superior treatment for presbyopia. 

TPT-161: a novel small molecule designed to reverse cataract formation in aging adults. Delivered via intra-vitreal injection, TPT-161 represents a promising new approach to cataract treatment, targeting the underlying causes of lens opacity. 

TPT-005: a cell therapy targeting RPE cell replacement for geographic atrophy, offering a potentially vision improving solution for this devastating cause of vision loss. 

To support the continued development of these programmes, Tenpoint will shortly embark on a crossover financing round with insider participation to further fund the completion of clinical studies for BRIMOCHOL PF, and the commercialisation preparations for a H1, 2026 launch of BRIMOCHOL PF into the US market.   

www.tenpointtherapeutics.com