Opthea Announces Changes to Executive Leadership
Opthea announced that the company’s Chief Executive Officer, Megan Baldwin, PhD, will transition to Founder and Chief Innovation Officer, effective today. The company says the move is reflective of the company’s strategy to advance its US and global presence and commercialization strategy for sozinibercept (OPT-302). Concurrently, Opthea had announced the appointments of US-based executives Frederic Guerard, Pharm.D., as Chief Executive Officer; and Peter Lang as Chief Financial Officer.
Dr. Guerard and Mr. Lang are healthcare executives with a record of building and growing organizations, guiding R&D pipelines, leading commercial operations, and managing finances while providing strategic direction and successfully steering companies through critical corporate, clinical and commercial growth inflection points, Opthea stated in a news release.
“On behalf of the Board, I am pleased to welcome Fred Guerard and Peter Lang to Opthea’s leadership team. Both come to Opthea with impressive credentials to position Opthea for future growth and success,” Jeremy Levin, D.Phil, MB BChir, Chairman of Opthea’s Board of Directors, said in the news release. “We are also excited to create a new and essential role for Megan to continue to enhance the opportunity for sozinibercept and Opthea's pipeline of next generation therapeutics for retinal diseases. Megan has dedicated much of her career to making Opthea what it is today and continues to be a critical member of the leadership team and Board of Directors.”
“I’m excited to join Opthea at such an important time for the company. I believe it’s now well-positioned to disrupt the eye disease treatment landscape highlighted by sozinibercept’s potential to become the first drug, when used in combination, to deliver superior visual gains compared to standard of care in wet AMD," said Dr. Guerard. "I wish to extend my gratitude to the Board for this opportunity and look forward to working with Megan, Peter and the entire team as we work to advance Opthea to ultimately become a premier ophthalmology company.”
Dr. Guerard’s career in the pharmaceutical industry spans over 25 years and includes multiple leadership, strategic and commercial roles. He served as the Chief Executive Officer of Graybug Vision Inc., a clinical-stage pharmaceutical company developing potentially transformative therapies for ocular diseases. He led the clinical development of a late-stage wet AMD product candidate. Dr. Guerard led the merger of Graybug with CalciMedica Inc., and remains a non-executive Board member of CalciMedica.
Mr. Lang comes to Opthea with over 25 years of experience delivering strategic, operational, and financial solutions, with deep expertise in the healthcare and biopharmaceutical sectors. He has held leadership roles at biopharmaceutical companies and well-recognized global and boutique investment banks. In addition, he has a long track record of working with management teams and boards to optimize companies' growth plans, capital structures, and return on capital. Prior to joining Opthea, Mr. Lang served as the Chief Financial Officer of Aerie Pharmaceuticals Inc.