Leadership changes are underway in the eyecare space—and we’ve got the latest.
Most recently: SpyGlass Pharma named a new vice president, Lumata Health appointed two new executives, and Horizon Surgical Systems selected its next chief strategy and medical officer.
First: SpyGlass.
As a privately-held ophthalmic biotech company, the California-based SpyGlass is developing novel treatments for chronic ophthalmic diseases (glaucoma, age-related macular degeneration [AMD], cataract, and chronic uveitis).
Key to these treatments is the company's proprietary, controlled-release drug delivery platform, which enables long-term drug delivery.
- And in recent news: The company raised $75 million over the summer to advance this platform following the release of positive 18-month phase 2 data supporting its use in delivering bimatoprost for intraocular pressure (IOP) reduction.
Let’s talk about this new appointment.
SpyGlass has named Anand Sundaram as vice president, head of Commercial.
His role: Will involve being instrumental in building a commercial strategy and team to support the SpyGlass Delivery System as it heads into two phase 3 clinical trials.
And his areas of expertise?
These include:
- Precommercial planning
- Ophthalmic commercial launches
- Patient access
- Reimbursement strategy
- Payer engagement
- Marketing
So what’s his background?
Prior to joining SpyGlass, Sundaram served as vice president of Marketing at Opthea Limited, an Australian biopharmaceutical company specializing in retinal disease treatments (which cut its workforce by 65% following a failed phase 3 wet AMD program earlier this year).
Prior to this: He was with Iveric Bio as executive director of Access and Reimbursement as well as Novartis as a director of marketing.
- Notably: Sundaram led early commercial efforts for its FDA-approved geographic atrophy therapeutic IZERVAY (avacincaptad pegol).
Alrighty, next up: Lumata Health
Based in Raleigh, North Carolina, Lumata Health is a technology-driven healthcare startup targeting vision loss prevention from chronic ocular diseases via a “human-led” intelligent eyecare management platform for patients.
Specifically: The company runs a continuous care program for eyecare practices in which International Joint Commission on Allied Health Personnel in Ophthalmology (JCAHPO)-certified care coaches—trained ophthalmic professionals, in other words—provide non-clinical support to patients diagnosed with ocular diseases in between clinic visits (with reimbursable services).
- Plus, this predictive analytics platform uses real-world data to predict and identify patients at risk of missing treatment or follow-up.
And these leadership appointments?
The company has named two new leaders to its team:
- Annu Singh as chief technology officer
- This role: Involves leading the company’s strategy and execution to build scalable, data-enabled artificial intelligence (AI)-assisted eye care
- Nastran Andersen as chief growth officer
- This role: Focuses on driving revenue growth to the company
What experience do they bring?
Singh has spent 25+ years “building platforms and products for Fortune 500 and Global 5000 companies,” according to Lumata, and is experienced in:
- Launching patient-centered solutions
- Building and scaling platforms in the health-tech and education-tech sectors
Check out his previous workplaces.
As for Andersen, she is a 30-year veteran of “driving revenue growth in the healthcare industry” to companies—including Fortune 10 and 500, private equity-backed firms, and small- to mid-sized organizations.
- See here for details on her background.
Now to Horizon Surgical.
Operating out of Malibu, California, Horizon Surgical is a private medical-robotics company specializing in developing assistive surgical robotics.
More specifically: The company has developed the first image-guided, AI-enabled robotic platform designed for ophthalmic microsurgery (cataract surgery, to be exact)—dubbed Polaris.
- See here for more details on this technology.
And in (relatively) recent news: Horizon Surgical closed on $30 million in Series A financing last October to support the continued advanced development of Polaris in first-in-human (FIH) studies.
Nice! Now who’s this new executive?
That would be Rajesh K. Rajpal, MD, who is joining the company as both chief strategy officer and chief medical officer.
About this dual role: Dr. Rajpal is expected to assist in shaping Horizon's “strategy, clinical development, and long-term growth,” according to the company.
And his background?
The new executive is experienced as an ophthalmic surgeon—in fact, he founded Virginia and Washington, D.C.-based See Clearly Vision Group, where he is also a LASIK and cornea specialist.
- In fact, according to his physician bio, Dr. Rajpal is also known as “the first eye surgeon in Washington, D.C. to perform (LASIK).”
Outside of this role: He is also reported to have various roles at Glaukos Corporation (as an advisor/consultant) and at the FDA as an industry representative on the ophthalmic device panel.
Impressive! And any input from the company on his new role?
Yes, actually … CEO Jean-Pierre Hubschman, MD, noted that Dr. Rajpal’s expertise will be “invaluable as we prepare for our (FIH) study and advance toward FDA approval and commercialization.”
As for details on this FIH study—stay tuned in the near future.