With one invention on the market and a full-time surgical practice treating conditions like cataracts, a Columbus serial entrepreneur spends nights and weekends on her latest two startups.
Dr. Alice Epitropoulos, an ophthalmologist, is working to get her latest invention widely available for patients with dry-eye. And she's among partners in a family-owned biotech firm developing a treatment for multiple sclerosis derived from a sea creature.
Add to that a part-time medical officer post at a supplement maker, co-ownership as a founding member of the Arena District's Eye Center, and her nonprofit professional organization.
But Mondays – those are reserved for spending time with her two grandchildren.
"I want to be able to help patients that need it," Epitropoulos said. "Family is important to me. So is trying to make a difference for people who are suffering."
In May Epitropoulos was named one of 100 most influential professionals in her field globally in the 2023 Ophthalmology Power List by The Ophthalmologist, a trade journal. She calls it "a career highlight."
Here are her new biotech startups:
- Meibomian Solutions LLC: Founded in 2021 with co-inventor Dr. Cliff Terry, a fellow eye surgeon in suburban Los Angeles, and named for the eyelid glands that help lubricate tears. They are working on the mass manufacturing process for an over-the-counter eye drop that is better at mimicking the naturally occurring oils in tears than what's currently available. The patent application is pending.
- TekV Therapeutics LLC: Founded in 2019 with family members including her brother, Columbus developer Jack Tzagournis, as CEO, and their father, Dr. Manuel Tzagournis, the retired Ohio State University med school dean and endocrinologist, who is the startup's chairman emeritus. TekV is seeking to license and commercialize novel treatments for autoimmune conditions using peptides, short chains of amino acids among the building blocks of proteins.
"There is an unmet need out there," Epitropoulos said. "We are putting out the effort to try to see if we can make a difference in the lives of these patients."
Epitropoulos' father came across literature on the peptide, synthetically manufactured but modeled on a toxin made by sea anemones. The family formed the startup and licensed the tech, raising seed funding from friends and relatives. Epitropoulos is the company's president, but not the lead researcher.
TekV has gone through initial safety trials to treat psoriasis, indicating it was safe in healthy patients, she said, and safe while showing efficacy in a small group with the condition.
It also has completed early safety and efficacy trials for inactive secondary progressive MS, which has no current approved therapy. The goal is to prevent further nerve degeneration, she said, and theoretically the peptide would allow regenerating the nerves' protective myelin sheath that MS destroys.
The startup likely will need to seek outside funding to progress to later-stage trials with larger patient groups.
Meibomian's over-the-counter product doesn't need the same rigorous drug approval process, but does need federal OK for processes like clinical manufacturing and sterilizing.
Patients at the Eye Center in the Arena District, where Epitropoulos is a practitioner and part-owner, have responded favorably. Every dry-eye patient receiving a sample asks for more, she said.
"There's hundreds of different artificial tears out there," Epitropoulos said. "We feel it's going to help patients."
Dry-eye has become more prevalent, affecting some 38 million Americans, especially in the digital era, she said. People using screens drop to four or five blinks per minute from the typical 20.
Epitropoulos sees patients four days a week, including 15 to 20 surgeries, usually on Thursdays.
Meanwhile, she's chief medical officer of Physician Recommended Nutriceuticals, a Pennsylvania business making fish-oil supplements for eye health, but not an owner.
Epitropoulos also co-founded nonprofit Cedars/Aspens, a professional organization for nearly 90 surgeons who specialize in the front of the eye, such as the lens and cornea. The society promotes clinical best practices, peer-to-peer education and knowledge for patients.
"I had mentors and learned a lot from them, and still do," she said. "Paying that forward to people coming up in medicine, you just feel good."
Nearly a decade ago Epitropoulos licensed her invention of a device to accurately measure vision deficits caused by headlights and other glare, especially in cataract patients. Arizona-based supplier Eye Care and Cure makes and sells the EpiGlare line of devices and accessories, for which she receives royalties.
"We put a lot more into R&D than we're getting back," Epitropoulos said. "But I accomplished my goal. ... I didn't do it to make money; I did it to get it into the hands of ophthalmologists and optometrists."
Epitropoulos has also experienced failure as an entrepreneur.
In 2008 she was the co-founder and vice president of The Physicians’ Assurance Corp., a doctor-owned insurer aiming to manage spiraling medical costs by keeping covered members healthy. Employer clients loved it – but a small number of catastrophic claims drained the Worthington-based startup's reserves, and the state sought a court-ordered liquidation less than a year later.
Epitropoulos still believes in the idea, and while her new businesses are in different industries, she learned from TPAC.
"If you have an idea you think is going to work, don't give up," she said. "Innovation – that's how we improve on things."
For fun, she said, Epitropoulos attends medical conferences and spends time with family. Easter dinner included 120 relatives.
