Opthea Announces Executive Leadership Changes and Senior Hires

Opthea announced several executive leadership changes aimed at bolstering the company’s commercial and clinical expertise as it prepares for the anticipated 2025 topline data readout of phase 3 trials for its lead candidate, sozinibercept, in wet AMD.

Daniel Geffken, Co-Founder and Managing Director of Danforth Advisors, has been appointed as interim Chief Financial Officer, effective September 9, 2024. With over 30 years of experience in life sciences, Mr. Geffken has served as CFO and strategic consultant to numerous companies, steering them through financing, growth, and operations across all stages of development. His appointment comes as Peter Lang, the outgoing CFO, steps down for personal reasons. Mr. Lang played a key role in securing $150 million in the company’s most recent financing round.

Mike Campbell has been appointed Chief Commercial Officer, bringing over 30 years of experience in biotech and pharmaceutical commercialization. Mr. Campbell previously led the launch of Lucentis, the first anti-VEGF treatment for wet AMD, during his tenure at Genentech, as well as contributing to the commercialization of other retinal treatments at Novartis and Shire. He succeeds Judith Robertson, who is leaving the company after preparing Opthea’s launch plans for sozinibercept.

Dayong Li, PhD, has been appointed Senior Vice President of Biometrics, where he will oversee statistics, data management, and programming for Opthea’s clinical programs. With over 25 years of experience, including his recent role at Marinus Pharmaceuticals, Dr. Li will report to Julie Clark, MD, Senior Vice President of Clinical Development.

Jen Watts joins as Vice President of Global Clinical Operations, bringing two decades of leadership in clinical program management. She previously led clinical operations at several biopharmaceutical companies, including Complement Therapeutics and Graybug Vision. Ms. Watts will replace Bruno Gagnon, who has led the clinical operations team advancing sozinibercept’s phase 3 trials in wet AMD.

Anthony Bonifazio has been appointed Vice President of Market Access, where he will report to Mr. Campbell and oversee Opthea’s market access strategy. Mr. Bonifazio has held leadership roles at Astellas and Novartis, spearheading the successful commercialization and launch of products like Izervay for geographic atrophy and Beovu for wet AMD.