Accomplished Ophthalmic Executive to Lead Company in Its Next Phase
SAN DIEGO, CA, USA (BUSINESS WIRE April 15, 2020) – Today, Leo Lens Pharma (formerly DBA as Leo Lens Technology Co., Inc.) is pleased to announce the appointment of Dan Myers as Chief Executive Officer. Prior to joining Leo Lens, Dan Myers was the co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Alimera Sciences, where he continues to serve as chairman of the Board of Directors. Before founding Alimera, Mr. Myers was a founding employee of Novartis Ophthalmics (formerly CIBA Vision Ophthalmics) and served as its President from 1997 to 2003. Mr. Myers has over 35 years of ophthalmic pharmaceutical experience, including over 21 years in the role of president or chief executive officer.
Leo Lens Pharma has developed the MediPrint™ process, a proprietary printing technology that allows for the sustained, continuous release of ophthalmic drugs via contact lenses. The company’s lead proprietary asset is a lens to treat glaucoma. This lens is manufactured with the MediPrint™ process, which allows for the continuous delivery of FDA approved Bimatoprost for 7 days. Leo Lens has already had a successful pre-IND meeting with the FDA to confirm its relatively expedient regulatory strategy and will be submitting an IND for the glaucoma product in mid 2020.
“Our founding team is thrilled that Dan is joining Leo Lens,” commented Praful Doshi, Founder and CTO. “His proven track record of developing and commercializing novel ophthalmic pharmaceutical products and fundraising in the private and public markets will allow us to expedite our plan to bring our unique glaucoma therapy to patients and eye care professionals. I could think of no one better to help us protect sight for millions of patients suffering from the effects of glaucoma.”
“I’m excited and honored to be joining Leo Lens at such a pivotal time in its progression,” added Dan Myers, the Company’s new CEO. “Our enterprise is poised to address the significant unmet need in glaucoma treatment by successfully advancing the development of our proprietary MediPrint™ process. We are currently building a proven pharmaceutical and ophthalmic management team to execute on this strategy and to create what I believe will be a very successful company.”
Glaucoma affects over 80 million people worldwide, of which 65 million have primary open angle glaucoma. The disease is currently the second leading cause of blindness in the United States. Most patients are treated with eyedrops, which have known compliance issues leading patients to progress in the disease. Leo Lens solves the glaucoma treatment problem with a non-invasive automatic dosing weekly therapy which helps limit the progression of the disease and helps protect sight. Considering the millions of glaucoma patients diagnosed and treated in the U.S. alone, and the countless others who are undiagnosed or untreated currently, the advent of Leo Lens Pharma’s complete solution for glaucoma treatment will benefit patients and eye care professionals alike.
About Leo Lens Pharma
Leo Lens Pharma (Leo Lens) is an emerging San Diego-based pharmaceutical company focused on helping protect sight. Using its proprietary MediPrint™ process, the Company will commercialize a drug- eluting, comfort-enhancing contact lens to treat millions of glaucoma patients worldwide. While eye drops have been around for over 40 years and remain the standard of care for over 90% of patients, they have only around a 50% compliance rate. This leads millions to suffer from disease progression and thousands to suffer from preventable blindness. There is a large unmet need for a better non-invasive treatment option in this $4B US market. Leo Lens’ patented MediPrint™ process offers a unique value proposition for patients, practitioners, strategic partners, and payers. Leo Lens is currently focused on advancing its lead asset, a unique and complete glaucoma treatment, to the clinic while continuing to build out its product pipeline.
For more information please visit www.leolens.com.
Contacts
Company Contact: Kenny Key, Leo Lens Pharma, kkey@leolens.com
Media Contact: Orlando Rodrigues, COR Communications, orlando@orodrigues.com
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