In September, several leadership changes were announced across the ophthalmic space.

• Foventa Therapeutics appointed Dr. Zaiba Malik as chief medical officer and Julia Jones as chief financial officer, according to a press release.

  CEO Olav Hellebø was recently appointed as CEO, and the team is aiming to secure Series A funding to bring FOV407 into a phase 2b trial. FOV407 is under investigation as a topical therapy for diabetic retinopathy.

    Several leadership changes were announced across the ophthalmic space.
• Samsara Vision announced Jason Herod has been promoted to president and CEO.

  He most recently served as chief commercial officer and was responsible for executing the commercialization of the Smaller-Incision New-Generation Implantable Miniature Telescope, or SING IMT, for late-stage age-related macular degeneration.

  “In CE-referenced countries, where the SING IMT is approved for use, we have seen tremendous excitement and uptake of our device for late-stage AMD, where it has been implanted in over 550 patients in 19 countries,” Herod said in press release.

• Ben Park, PhD, has been appointed as chief technology officer at STAAR Surgical and will join the company’s executive committee.

  Park most recently served as head of emerging technology at Align Technology, where he led a team across biomedical engineering, hardware, embedded systems and software areas “to define next-generation product platforms and address unmet clinical needs.”

  “Evolving STAAR from a single-product focus into a multi-product platform is central to our strategy — and requires the right leader,” Warren Foust, STAAR Surgical president and CEO, said in a press release. “Ben Park is that leader. We have been delivering on revenue growth and profitability, and now it’s time to match that momentum with equal urgency on innovation."

• Stuart Therapeutics appointed David Jakeman as chief financial officer.

  He will lead the finance and accounting operations as the company advances ST-100 for dry eye disease through completion of a pending phase 3b clinical trial and into preparations for commercialization, according to a press release.

  “I’m excited to join Stuart Therapeutics at such a pivotal time,” Jakeman said. “The company has advanced to a more mature stage, where the tools and processes necessary to finalize drug approval and build commercialization capabilities require experienced support. I look forward to helping navigate the advancement of the pipeline and bring these treatments to the patients who need them.”

  In a separate release, Stuart announced that Dave LeCause has been appointed as senior commercial advisor, leading commercial strategy.