Opthea (OPT) Announces Executive Changes

Opthea Limited (NASDAQ: OPT) today announced executive leadership changes in Commercial and Finance as well as senior hires for Biometrics, Clinical Operations and Market Access.

The following organizational changes further deepen the Company’s expertise in retina, expand its clinical capabilities, while advancing Opthea’s commercial readiness, in anticipation of the Phase 3 topline data readout of sozinibercept in wet AMD in 2025:

Daniel Geffken, Co-Founder and Managing Director, Danforth Advisors, will assume the role of Chief Financial Officer on an ad interim basis reporting to Frederic Guerard, PharmD, Chief Executive Officer, Opthea, effective September 9, 2024. Mr. Geffken is a proven leader of finance organizations in life science companies with more than 30 years of experience steering strategy, finance, and operations across all stages of the corporate life cycle. He has served as CFO, strategic consultant and board member to dozens of life science companies ranging from start-ups to publicly traded companies with US$2+ billion market capitalizations.

Daniel Geffken succeeds Peter Lang who decided to leave the Company for personal reasons effective September 9, 2024. During his tenure, he participated in the most recent round of financing which successfully raised US$150 million, significantly extending the Company’s cash runway.

Mike Campbell has been appointed Chief Commercial Officer, reporting to Frederic Guerard, PharmD, Chief Executive Officer, Opthea, effective September 9, 2024. Mr. Campbell brings 30 years of biotech and pharmaceutical commercial leadership experience across sales, marketing, market access, patient services, and operations to the Company. Mr. Campbell dedicated most of his career to launching and commercializing innovative treatments for retinal and ocular surface diseases. During his tenure at Genentech, he was a key leader for the commercial build and launch of Lucentis®, the first anti-VEGF-A treatment approved for wet AMD; he served in commercial leadership roles through the lifecycle of Lucentis®, including the expansion into Diabetic Macula Edema, and Retinal Vein Occlusion. Mr. Campbell also contributed to the pre-launch commercial planning of Beovu® in wet AMD at Novartis, as well as the $3.4 billion divestiture of Xiidra® for Dry Eye Disease to Novartis, during his tenure at Shire. Mr. Campbell most recently served as Senior Vice President and Head of Commercial at Viatris Eye Care who acquired Oyster Point Pharma, where he led the commercial build for the launch of Tyrvaya® in Dry Eye Disease. Mr. Campbell holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Auburn University and is an Executive Education graduate from the University of Pennsylvania, Wharton School of Business.

Mike Campbell succeeds Judith Robertson who will leave the Company on September 9, 2024, to pursue other opportunities. During her tenure as Chief Commercial Officer, Judy laid the foundation for the anticipated commercialization of sozinibercept in wet AMD by preparing the launch plan, driving awareness of sozinibercept’s benefits with the retinal community and coordinating commercial pre-launch activities. Prior to stepping into this role, and given her commercial expertise in ophthalmology, Ms. Robertson served as a member of the Board of Directors of Opthea for seven months. A transition plan between Mike and Judy has been put in place to ensure a smooth handover of critical projects until the end of September.

Dayong Li, PhD, has been appointed Senior Vice President, Biometrics, reporting to Julie Clark, MD, Senior Vice President, Clinical Development, Opthea, effective September 9, 2024. Dr. Li brings more than 25 years’ experience as a biometrics leader in the biopharmaceutical industry. He most recently served as Senior Vice President, Biometrics, at Marinus Pharmaceuticals, creating and leading a team which was responsible for all activities pertinent to statistics, data management and programming. He played a leadership role in the successful submission and approval of Ztalmy®, a first-in-class treatment for seizures in CDKL5 deficiency disorder (CDD). Over his career, Dr. Li held global Biometrics roles of increasing responsibility at Forest Laboratories (now AbbVie), Astra Zeneca, and other medium and small sized pharmaceutical and biotech companies, and was involved in over ten NDA/sNDA submissions with high approval rates. Dr. Li holds a PhD in statistics from University of Maryland and a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from Henan Normal University, China.

Jen Watts has been appointed Vice President Global Clinical Operations, reporting to Frederic Guerard, PharmD, Chief Executive Officer, Opthea, effective September 9, 2024. Ms. Watts has an impressive track record as a leader in global clinical operations for over two decades. Her primary focus has been on enhancing and optimizing the operational performance and strategic execution of clinical programs. During recent years, she has held the position of Vice President, Clinical Operations at several clinical-stage biopharmaceutical companies, including Complement Therapeutics, Oculis, and Graybug Vision. Prior to that, Ms. Watts served as the Clinical Sciences Director of Ophthalmology - Retina Lead at the Novartis Institute of Biomedical Research. In addition to her extensive experience in ophthalmology, Ms. Watts successfully oversaw early to late-stage clinical trials across various medical fields, including Respiratory, Immunology, Oncology, Cardiology, and COVID-19. Her leadership also extended to global clinical programs at Genentech, Actelion, and Gilead Sciences. Ms. Watts holds a specialized Master of Science degree in Clinical Research Management from the School of Biomedical Science at the University of North Texas Health Science Center (UNTHSC) in Fort Worth, Texas.

Jennifer Watts succeeds Bruno Gagnon, BPharm, MSc, who decided to leave the Company on September 9, 2024. Under Mr. Gagnon’s leadership, the clinical operations team made significant progress in advancing sozinibercept’s Phase 3 wet AMD program, and most recently completed patient enrollment in both COAST and ShORe pivotal trials evaluating the superiority of sozinibercept combination therapy.

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