Graybug Vision, Inc. (Nasdaq: GRAY), a clinical-stage
biopharmaceutical company focused on developing transformative
medicines to treat chronic vision-threatening diseases of the
retina and optic nerve, today announced the appointment of three
new members to the company’s Board of Directors with immediate
effect. Christina Ackermann will chair Graybug’s Nominating and
Corporate Governance Committee and serve as a member of its
Compensation Committee. Eric Bjerkholt, MBA, will chair the
company’s Compensation Committee and serve as a member of the Audit
Committee. Julie Eastland, MBA, will chair the Audit Committee.
Ms. Ackermann, Mr. Bjerkholt and Ms. Eastland replace Emmett
Cunningham, Jr., MD, PhD, Managing Director at Blackstone
Lifesciences Group, Chau Q. Khuong, MPH, Partner at OrbiMed, and
Cameron Wheeler, PhD, Partner at Deerfield, all of whom served on
Graybug’s Board of Directors representing three of Graybug’s
long-term private investors.
“With Graybug’s successful pricing of its initial public
offering, we are entering into an exciting new phase of development
for the company, and I welcome Christina, Eric and Julie to the
Board,” said Christy Shaffer, PhD, Chair of Graybug’s Board of
Directors. “I would like to thank Emmett, Chau and Cam for their
significant contributions to the Board over the past several
years.”
“I am excited to be working with our new board members. Thanks
to their deep expertise and diverse experience as global leaders in
health care and biotechnology, they will bring tremendous strategic
and operational value as we pursue the development of our
ophthalmic pipeline,” concluded Fred Guerard, PharmD, Chief
Executive Officer, Graybug Vision.
Christina Ackermann has over
20 years of experience as General Counsel and Senior Executive in
the pharmaceutical industry. She currently serves as Executive Vice
President, General Counsel and Head of Commercial Operations at
Bausch Health Companies, Inc. She joined Bausch Health in 2016 as
Executive Vice President, General Counsel responsible for the
company’s worldwide legal affairs, compliance, global security and
enterprise risk management, and was named Head of Commercial
Operations in June 2020. Prior to that, Ms. Ackermann was part of
the Novartis group of companies for 14 years. She served as Senior
Vice President, General Counsel for Alcon, as Global Head, Legal
and General Counsel for Sandoz, as well as Head Legal General
Medicine and Head, Legal Technical Operations and Ophthalmics for
Novartis Pharmaceuticals. Prior to Novartis, Ms. Ackermann served
in various Associate General Counsel roles at Bristol Myers Squibb
and DuPont Pharmaceuticals, as well as in private practice, where
she focused on securities, and mergers & acquisitions. Ms.
Ackermann attended York University, Toronto, Canada, for her
undergraduate studies focusing first on Fine Arts, and then
concentrating on mathematics and political sciences. She obtained
her Law degree (an LL.B.) from Queen's University, Kingston,
Canada, and earned her Post Graduate Diploma in EC Competition Law
from King’s College, University of London, United Kingdom.
Eric Bjerkholt has more than
three decades of health care and biotechnology leadership
experience in finance and related functions, both as an executive
at publicly traded and early-stage companies and as an investment
banker. He currently is the Chief Financial Officer of Aimmune
Therapeutics, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company focusing on new
treatments for potentially life-threatening food allergies. In this
role, he oversees the finance, procurement, investor relations,
business development and strategy, information technology and
facilities functions. During his tenure at Aimmune, he has raised
more than $600 million in equity offerings and a debt financing.
Prior to joining Aimmune, Mr. Bjerkholt served as CFO at Sunesis
Pharmaceuticals, Inc., where he oversaw business development and
aspects of governance and corporate relations. Prior to Sunesis, he
was CFO at IntraBiotics Pharmaceuticals, Inc., and LifeSpring
Nutrition, Inc. He began his health care career at J.P. Morgan
& Co. in New York as an investment banker and then launched the
company’s Western US health care practice. He has served on the
boards of directors of several publicly traded companies and
currently is a board member of Cerus Corporation where he serves as
Chair of the Audit Committee. Mr. Bjerkholt holds a master’s degree
in economics from the University of Oslo, Norway, and an MBA from
Harvard Business School.
Julie Eastland is a seasoned strategic and
financial executive with more than 25 years of experience in the
public and private biotechnology industry. Prior to joining
Graybug’s Board of Directors, she served as Chief Financial Officer
and Chief Business Officer of Rainier Therapeutics, a private
biotechnology company focused on bladder cancer. Ms. Eastland also
served as Chief Financial Officer and Chief Business Officer of
Cascadian Therapeutics, a publicly traded Nasdaq company, that
developed tucatinib (TukysaTM) for patients with HER2-positive
breast cancer. During her tenure, she helped negotiate the sale of
the company to Seattle Genetics, while the registration trial for
tucatinib was ongoing. Prior to Cascadian, she served as Chief
Financial Officer and Vice President of Finance and Operations of
VLST Corporation, a privately-held biotechnology company. Ms.
Eastland held various financial and strategic management positions
at publicly-traded biotechnology companies, including Dendreon and
Amgen, earlier in her career. She currently serves on the boards of
Harpoon Therapeutics and Dynavax Technologies. Ms. Eastland
received an MBA from Edinburgh University Management School, United
Kingdom, and a Bachelor of Science in finance from Colorado State
University.
About Graybug Graybug is a clinical-stage
biopharmaceutical company focused on developing transformative
medicines to treat chronic diseases of the retina and optic nerve.
The company’s proprietary ocular delivery technologies are designed
to maintain effective drug levels in ocular tissue for up to six
months and potentially longer, improving patient compliance,
reducing healthcare burdens and ultimately delivering better
clinical outcomes. Graybug’s lead product candidate, GB-102, a
microparticle depot formulation of sunitinib malate, inhibits
multiple neovascular pathways for the intravitreal treatment of
retinal diseases, including wet age-related macular degeneration,
with a six-month dosing regimen. Graybug is also using its
proprietary technologies to develop GB-401, an injectable depot
formulation of a beta-adrenergic prodrug, for primary open-angle
glaucoma, with a dosing regimen of once every six months or longer,
and GB-103, a longer-acting version of GB-102, designed to maintain
therapeutic drug levels in the retinal tissue for 12 months with a
single injection. Founded in 2011 on the basis of technology
licensed from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine,
Graybug is headquartered in Redwood City, California. For more
information, please visit www.graybug.vision.
Forward looking statementThis press release
contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the “safe
harbor” provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act
of 1995, including, but not limited to statements regarding the
company’s operations as a public company, the company’s management
and board of directors, and the timing and results of its clinical
trials. Forward-looking statements are subject to risks and
uncertainties that may cause the company’s actual activities or
results to differ significantly from those expressed in any
forward-looking statement, including risks and uncertainties
described under the heading “Risk Factors” in documents the company
files from time to time with the Securities and Exchange
Commission. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the
date of this press release, and the company undertakes no
obligation to revise or update any forward-looking statements to
reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof.
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