RetinUp Podcast

Jay S. Duker, MD, President & CEO of EyePoint Pharmaceuticals, joins John and Scott to parse the LUGANO Phase 3 topline data — just three days after release. He walks through Duravyu's MOA, what the nine outlier patients in the study actually represent, why the secondary data are compelling, and what LUCIA needs to show for an NDA filing in 1H 2027.

Then Miles Harper stops by the VitreoRetinal View to discuss why some inno...

Breaking news: EyePoint Pharmaceuticals announced LUGANO Phase 3 topline data this morning. Duravyu, an investigational sustained-release TKI for wet AMD, did not meet its primary non-inferiority endpoint in the full dataset — confounded by nine patients in what EyePoint is calling an asymmetric cohort. John Kitchens, MD, and Scott Krzywonos break down what it means, what comes next, and why TKIs still win as a class.

Show Sum...

The companion piece to RetinUp’s previous episode on biosimilars is here, featuring an oncologist who has lived through biosimilar disruption for the past decade. Stephen "Fred" Divers, MD, CMO of the American Oncology Network, joins John and Scott to share what oncology has learned from nearly a decade of biosimilar use: the ASP deterioration cycle, payer formulary pressure, the race to the bottom, and what retina should do ...

Bob Jahr, President & CEO of Outlook Therapeutics, joins John and Scott for one of his first interviews since the Lytenava (bevacizumab-vikg) FDA approval on July 24, 2026. He walks through the long road to approval — three complete response letters, a formal dispute resolution appeal, and a final label in hand without a single additional safety or efficacy data commitment — and shares what's ahead for the US commer...

Breaking news: the US Food and Drug Administration approved Lytenava (bevacizumab-vikg, Outlook Therapeutics) on July 24, 2026 — making it the first and only FDA-approved ophthalmic formulation of bevacizumab for the treatment of wet AMD in the United States.

John Kitchens, MD, and Scott Krzywonos break down what this approval means in real-world terms: the upside for practices and patients, the unresolved questions around com...

Show Notes:

Guests: Devon Ghodasra, MD – Partner, Southeastern Retina Associates, Chattanooga, Tennessee

Vas Sadda, MD – Director, Artificial Intelligence & Imaging Research, Doheny Eye Institute; Professor of Ophthalmology, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA

Show Summary

Scott Krzywonos starts the show solo this week — John Kitchens, MD, is in the middle of a move from Kentucky to Colorado and will share mor...

Jorge Fortun, MD, of Bascom Palmer Eye Institute joins John Kitchens, MD, and Scott Krzywonos for a wide-ranging conversation on the art of retina practice, from the unique challenges of seeing highly educated, high-expectation patients in Palm Beach Gardens, to the patient communication strategies he relies on every day. He shares the analogies he uses to explain DME, GA, and AREDS vitamins, discusses the realities of seeing celeb...

Guests: Hunter Cherwek, MD – Vice President, Clinical Services & Technologies, Orbis International

Frank Brodie, MD, MBA – Assistant Professor of Ophthalmology, UCSF; Co-Founder, Long Bridge Medical

Show Summary

Hunter Cherwek, MD, Vice President of Clinical Services & Technologies at Orbis International, joins John and Scott to discuss how Orbis has evolved from a single Flying Eye Hospital into a global force sp...

Guests: John B. Miller, MD – Associate Professor of Ophthalmology, Harvard Medical School; Director of Retinal Imaging; Associate Fellowship Director, Vitreoretinal Surgery, Mass Eye and Ear

Show Summary

John Kitchens, MD, opens with a recap of the inaugural Kiawah Eye Retina meeting, which used a case-based, panel-driven format and drew 80 retina specialists. It left him hoping for an invitation back next year.

John and Scott t...

John Kitchens, MD, joins from Kiawah Island for the inaugural Kiawah Eye Retina meeting as he and Scott Krzywonos break down two pressing policy stories: what the GLOBE Project actually means for retina practices, and what the FDA's ongoing leadership vacuum could mean for drug approvals and smaller companies with limited runway. Arshad M. Khanani, MD, MA, then previews Clinical Trials at the Summit (CTS), the invite-only meeting h...

Guests: Marci English, MPH – Senior Vice President, Biopharma and Ophthalmology Development, Astellas Pharma | Erin Kimbrel, PhD – President, Astellas Institute for Regenerative Medicine (AIRM); Head of Cell and Gene Therapy Research, Astellas Pharma | Murtaza Adam, MD – Chair of Clinical Research, Colorado Retina Associates

Hosts: John Kitchens, MD, Scott Krzywonos

Show Summary

Recorded on the final day of ARVO 2026...

Guests: Clorinda Walley – President & CEO, Good Days | Prof. Paulo Stanga – Founder & Chief Medical Officer, The Retina Clinic London; Professor of Ophthalmology, UCL Institute of Ophthalmology

Show Summary

This episode of RetinUp pulls back the curtain on Good Days, one of the most important — and least understood — resources in retina practice. Clorinda Walley, Good Days President & CEO, joins Jo...

Show Summary

This episode of RetinUp opens with a timely policy discussion between the hosts about proposed Medicare and Medicaid funding cuts, exploring what they could mean for retina practices and their most vulnerable patients.

The Vitreoretinal View segment features John Kitchens, MD, sharing his decade-long experience with heads-up 3D visualization. He reviews what makes it transformative for training and surgical outcomes, why...

This episode of RetinUp is a special deep dive into the Vit-Buckle Society (VBS), tracing its origins and previewing what’s ahead for the 2026 meeting.

In the first segment, Ross Lakhanpal, MD, shares the founding story of VBS — from informal dinner discussions among fellows to one of the most distinctive and influential meetings in retina. What began as an effort to preserve surgical retina education has evolved into a ...

In this breaking news episode, John Kitchens, MD, and Scott Krzywonos react to the announcement that Biogen will acquire Apellis Pharmaceuticals for $5.6 billion, an approximately 8x revenue multiple driven largely by Syfovre (pegcetacoplan), which accounts for the majority of Apellis’ srevenue.

The discussion focuses on what this acquisition could mean for the future of geographic atrophy (GA) treatment, including concerns ar...

This episode of RetinUp combines clinical innovation and device engineering, starting with a discussion on photobiomodulation (PBM) in age-related macular degeneration (AMD), followed by a deep dive into the future of ophthalmic laser technology.

First, Marion Munk, MD, shares her extensive real-world experience using the Valeda Light Delivery System (Alcon) for PBM, including patient selection, treatment protocols, and functional o...

Hosts:

John Kitchens, MD

Scott Krzywonos

Show Summary

In this special RetinUp Mailbag episode, John Kitchens and Scott Krzywonos answer listener questions from retina specialists around the country about three issues: cash-pay diversification, the future of emerging therapies in light of payer realities, and how practices can realistically adopt expensive new technology as reimbursements decline.

The conversation explores wheth...

Hosts:

John Kitchens, MD

Scott Krzywonos

Guests:

Thomas Stone, MD – Program Committee Chair, ASRS Business of Retina Meeting

Maria Berrocal, MD – CEO, Drs. Berrocal & Associates; Associate Professor, University of Puerto Rico

David Mandell, JD, MBA – Co-Founder & Partner, OJM Group

Show Summary

RetinUp brings together three distinct but interconnected conversations focused on the business, surgical innova...

Hosts:

John Kitchens, MD

Scott Krzywonos

Show Summary:

In this emergency episode of RetinUp, John and Scott break down the newly announced SOL-1 study data evaluating Axpaxli (Ocular Therapeutix) for the treatment of wet AMD.

The superiority trial compared a single Axpaxli injection to a single Eylea injection (after all eyes received a pair of monthly Eylea doses) in patients with wet AMD. The primary endpoint was the proportion of pat...