Opthea Limited announced today that the company’s CEO, Dr. Megan Baldwin, will transition to founder and chief innovation officer, effective today, reflective of the company’s strategy to advance its US and global presence and commercialization strategy for sozinibercept (OPT-302).
Concurrently, Opthea is pleased to announce the appointments of U.S.-based executives, Dr. Frederic Guerard as CEO and Peter Lang as chief financial officer.
Dr. Frederic Guerard and Peter Lang are two well-respected 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.
“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,” commented Dr. Jeremy Levin, chairman of Opthea’s Board of Directors. “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.”
Dr. Baldwin commented “Recognising that Opthea is entering a critical stage of its corporate growth trajectory, with an expanded team in the U.S. and increased focus on advancing the commercialization strategy for sozinibercept, I am pleased to welcome both Frederic and Peter to their new roles and working with them to lead Opthea’s transition to its next phase of growth.”
Fred Guerard, Chief Executive Officer of Opthea, continued “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. 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.”
Peter Lang added, “I am honored to have this opportunity to work with Fred, Megan, the management team, and Board to efficiently grow the business and bring significant value to patients, clinicians, and investors. The Opthea team continues to build a unique biotech and realize the full potential of its pipeline with a differentiated, first-in-class product candidate in the late stage of pivotal Phase 3 clinical trials addressing a real need for wet AMD patients.”
Frederic Guerard
Dr. Guerard’s career in the pharmaceutical industry spans over 25 years and includes multiple leadership, strategic and commercial roles. Fred 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. Fred led the merger of Graybug with CalciMedica, Inc. and remains a non-executive Board member of CalciMedica.
Before Graybug, Fred acted as the Worldwide Business Franchise Head of Ophthalmology at Novartis. In this role, he successfully led the integration of Novartis retina and Alcon Pharmaceuticals and accelerated the rejuvenation of the product pipeline through strategic acquisitions and licensing transactions in dry eye, presbyopia, and inherited retinal diseases. Prior to this role, he served as Global Franchise Head of Pharmaceuticals at Alcon.
He has also held multiple leadership positions at Novartis, including Head of United Kingdom and Ireland, Head and Country President of Australia and New Zealand, Head of Marketing and Sales for Emerging Growth Markets Region, Head and Country President Egypt, and Cluster Head North and West Africa. He has served on the Board of the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI) and on the Board of Medicines Australia.
Fred holds a PharmD and a Master of Biological and Medical Sciences from the University of Rouen, France, and a Master of Marketing from HEC Paris.
Peter Lang
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, Peter 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, Peter served as the Chief Financial Officer of Aerie Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a fully integrated pharmaceutical company focused on the discovery, development, and commercialization of first-in-class ophthalmic therapies for the treatment of patients with eye diseases. He co-led the successful strategic and financial repositioning of Aerie, including reinvigorating its commercial glaucoma franchise, refocusing the R&D pipeline, and improving the financial and operation results of the Company, ultimately resulting in a ~$950 million cash acquisition of Aerie by Alcon AG.
Before Aerie, Peter was Managing Director and Partner at Ridge Advisory, LLC, a boutique advisory and banking firm. Prior to his work at Ridge Advisory, Peter served in various leadership roles in the healthcare investment banking divisions of well-respected firms, including HSBC, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, UBS Investment Bank, and Leerink Partners.
Peter graduated with a Master of Business Administration from The University of Chicago, Booth School of Business, with High Honors. Peter earned dual degrees, Magna Cum Laude, from The University of Pennsylvania Wharton School of Business and The School of Arts & Sciences.