Leadership changes are underway in the eyecare space—and we’ve got the latest.
Earlier this week, Aurion Biotech announced an expansion to its executive team with the promotion of two long-time leaders. And last month (yes, we’re a little late to the party on this one), KALA BIO named a new CEO.
Which shall we start with?
Let’s begin with the most recent news: Aurion Biotech.
A brief company rundown: The Seattle, Washington-based clinical-stage biotech company was formed in 2022 with a focus on restoring vision loss among corneal endothelial disease (CED) patients.
Key to this goal: The development of a proprietary, multi-step, and open cell therapy platform for advanced regenerative cell therapies—including its first investigational candidate:
- AURN001, an allogeneic cell therapy that has already received two FDA designations (more on this later, though).
And these appointments?
- Andrew Torres, PhD, as chief manufacturing officer
- Previously: Aurion’s vice president of chemistry, manufacturing, and controls (CMC)
- Sterling Chung as chief regulatory and quality officer
- Previously: Aurion’s vice president, Regulatory Affairs
What backgrounds do these execs bring?
Prior to joining Aurion, Torres served in leadership roles at Molecular Templates, Neuoleukin Therapeutics, Regeneron, and GE Global Research.
- His expertise extends to process and analytical development, formulation, CMC regulatory strategy and operations, quality control, supply chain, and good manufacturing practice (GMP) manufacturing.
As for Chung, he also previously held senior leadership roles at Neoleukin Therapeutics, Molecular Templates, Immatics U.S., Seattle Genetics, Astellas Pharmaceuticals, Takeda Pharmaceuticals, and Abbott Laboratories.
- And his expertise includes over two decades in the pharmaceutical space, primarily in regulatory affairs, quality assurance, pharmacovigilance, and medical writing and publishing.
So what’s the reason behind these promotions?
Per Aurion, the company is preparing to initiate a U.S. phase 3 clinical trial in the next few months—specifically, Q1 2026.
- The planned focus of that study: AURON001.
- Check out the intel on this combination cell therapy, including its potential as a one-time intracameral injection
- And see the latest supporting clinical data on it
Alrighty, now to this next order of business: KALA BIO.
We actually just reported some not-so-great news from the clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company earlier in the week.
But before that update, KALA announced a new leader at the beginning of September:
- Todd Bazemore as president, CEO, and director.
Tell me about him.
Bazemore isn’t new to the company. In fact, he’s served as KALA’s interim CEO since February 2025 (following the resignation of former CEO Mark Iwicki), and—prior to that—held two other positions:
- President (since 2021)
- COO (since 2017)
And before joining KALA?
He held leadership positions at Santhera Pharmaceuticals (USA), Inc., Dyax Corp., and Sunovion Pharmaceuticals (which was known as Sepracor Inc. at the time).
- Over the course of three decades, his areas of expertise have ranged “across ultra-rare orphan diseases to large primary care conditions,” including leading global commercial strategies in sales, marketing, and market access.
Alrighty, now to the company itself—what’s the latest?
Unfortunately, not great news. KALA reported that the phase 2b trial evaluating its lead investigational therapeutic for persistent corneal epithelial defect (PCED) failed to meet its primary endpoint.
The therapeutic: KPI-012, a human mesenchymal stem cell secretome (MSC-S) therapy formulated to utilize the company’s proprietary MSC-S platform as a cell-free approach for disease management (via ocular surface tissue repair).
- See here for more details on KPI-012 as well as the specifics of this study.
Yikes. So what’s next for KALA?
Good question. That’s to be determined, as the company is currently evaluating “strategic options” to preserve cash—and hinted at a potentially significant workforce reduction.
In the meantime, check out other recent industry news.