DURHAM, N.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aerie Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: AERI), a pharmaceutical company focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of first-in-class ophthalmic therapies, today announced that Gary Sternberg, M.D., M.B.A., will join the Company as Chief Medical Officer (CMO), effective March 1, 2022. He will report to Raj Kannan, Chief Executive Officer of Aerie Pharmaceuticals and become a member of the Aerie Executive Committee.
Gary is an Ophthalmologist who is fellowship trained in cornea and external diseases (defined as diseases around the eye, including the surface of the eye and eyelids/skin). He is also a well-rounded biopharmaceutical executive with a breadth and depth of relevant experiences in clinical development, medical affairs, strategy, and business development that will be valuable to Aerie. As CMO, Gary will provide strategic direction on Aerie’s global product portfolio strategy to bring products to market in compliance with global regulatory, legislative and medical/health requirements.
“I am pleased to welcome Dr. Gary Sternberg to Aerie and believe his broad industry experience will be very valuable to us. Gary brings a unique understanding of our targets and pipeline programs. In addition, he has a successful track record of corporate development deal making and in building effective collaborations,” said Raj Kannan, Chief Executive Officer of Aerie. “I look forward to working with Gary to advance our clinical portfolio, to help us make smart choices in advancing our pipeline, and to raise Aerie’s profile within the global eye care community.”
Gary Sternberg, said “I have dedicated my career to developing novel ophthalmology products that could make the lives of patients and members of the global eye care community better. I am very excited to join Aerie because I believe the Company is at an important inflection point, with an exciting first-in-class glaucoma franchise, and a pipeline that has the potential to make a meaningful difference in the lives of patients. I look forward to working with Raj and the talented team at Aerie to help realize the full promise of our pipeline.”
Gary brings to Aerie more than 20 years of relevant experience in clinical and drug development, medical affairs, strategy and business development and technology evaluation. He has also held leadership roles in global pharmaceutical companies and start-ups. Gary joins Aerie from RainBio, Inc., where he served as Acting CEO. Prior to his work at RainBio, Gary was the CEO, President and Co-Founder of Stargazer Pharmaceuticals, Inc., where he led the company from inception to the development of a “Phase 3 ready” product candidate for Stargardt disease, an inherited orphan eye disease with no available treatments. Prior to that, Gary was CEO of Tisbury Pharmaceuticals, Inc., where he led the development of a novel glaucoma compound for treatment of elevated intraocular pressure.
Before his work at Tisbury, Gary served as the Chief Business Officer at Eleven Biotherapeutics, Inc. (now Sesen Bio) where he completed a major out-licensing deal worth up to $270 million with Roche (IL-6 inhibitor for diabetic macular edema) and played an integral role in a reverse merger process to reinvent the company as a specialty oncology company. Prior to joining Eleven Biotherapeutics, Gary was Group Medical Director and lead, U.S. Medical Affairs at Genentech, where he worked on Lucentis (ranibizumab) and headed medical messaging, conducted a very active investigator sponsored trial program with leading investigators, led a Medical Science Liaison group, worked on health economics and outcomes research analyses, and directed a Phase 4 post approval commitment study.
Gary earned Board-certification in Ophthalmology and completed a fellowship in cornea and external diseases. He earned his MD at State University of New York (Brooklyn) and conducted his postgraduate residency training in Ophthalmology and fellowship training in Cornea, External Diseases and Refractive Surgery at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York City. He obtained his MBA from the University of Chicago.
About Aerie Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Aerie is a pharmaceutical company focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of first-in-class ophthalmic therapies for the treatment of patients with eye diseases and conditions including open-angle glaucoma, dry eye, diabetic macular edema (DME) and wet age-related macular degeneration (wet AMD). Aerie’s first novel product, Rhopressa® (netarsudil ophthalmic solution) 0.02%, a once-daily eye drop approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the reduction of elevated intraocular pressure (IOP) in patients with open-angle glaucoma or ocular hypertension, was launched in the United States in April 2018. In clinical trials of Rhopressa®, the most common adverse reactions were conjunctival hyperemia, corneal verticillata, instillation site pain, and conjunctival hemorrhage. More information about Rhopressa®, including the product label, is available at www.rhopressa.com. Aerie’s second novel product for the reduction of elevated IOP in patients with open-angle glaucoma or ocular hypertension, Rocklatan® (netarsudil (0.02%) and latanoprost ophthalmic solution (0.005%)), was launched in the United States in May 2019. In clinical trials of Rocklatan®, the most common adverse reactions were conjunctival hyperemia, corneal verticillata, instillation site pain, and conjunctival hemorrhage. More information about Rocklatan®, including the product label, is available at www.rocklatan.com. More information on Aerie Pharmaceuticals is available at www.aeriepharma.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements for purposes of the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. We may, in some cases, use terms such as “predicts,” “believes,” “potential,” “proposed,” “continue,” “estimates,” “anticipates,” “expects,” “plans,” “intends,” “may,” “could,” “might,” “will,” “should,” “exploring,” “pursuing” or other words that convey uncertainty of future events or outcomes to identify these forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements in this release include statements regarding our intentions, beliefs, projections, outlook, analyses or current expectations concerning, among other things: the duration and severity of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak and its variants, including the impact on our clinical and commercial operations, demand for our products and financial results and condition of our global supply chains; our expectations regarding the commercialization and manufacturing of Rhopressa®, Rocklatan®, Rhokiinsa® and Roclanda® or any product candidates or future product candidates, including the timing, cost or other aspects of their commercial launch; our commercialization, marketing, manufacturing and supply management capabilities and strategies in and outside of the United States; the success, timing and cost of our ongoing and anticipated preclinical studies and clinical trials for Rhopressa® and Rocklatan®, with respect to regulatory approval outside of the United States, and any product candidates or future product candidates, including statements regarding the timing of initiation and completion of the studies and trials; our expectations regarding the effectiveness of Rhopressa®, Rocklatan®, Rhokiinsa®, Roclanda® or any product candidates or future product candidates; the timing of and our ability to request, obtain and maintain FDA or other regulatory authority approval of, or other action with respect to, as applicable, Rhopressa®, Rocklatan® or any product candidates or future product candidates; the potential advantages of Rhopressa® and Rocklatan® or any product candidates or future product candidates; our plans to pursue development of additional product candidates and technologies; our plans to explore possible uses of our existing proprietary compounds beyond glaucoma, including development of our retina program; our ability to protect our proprietary technology and enforce our intellectual property rights or to develop new intellectual property; and our expectations regarding strategic operations, including our ability to in-license or acquire additional ophthalmic products, product candidates or technologies or the success of any proposed collaboration agreements regarding out-licensing our products or product candidates. In particular, FDA and European Medicines Agency (EMA) approval of Rhopressa® and Rocklatan®, and Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) authorization of Roclanda® does not guarantee regulatory approval of Rhopressa®, Rocklatan® or Roclanda® in other jurisdictions, and there can be no assurance that we will receive regulatory approval for Rhopressa®, Rocklatan® or Roclanda® in such other jurisdictions. In addition, FDA approval of Rhopressa® and Rocklatan® does not guarantee FDA approval of our product candidates or any future product candidates and there can be no assurance that we will receive FDA approval for our product candidates or any future product candidates. Furthermore, the acceptance of the Investigational New Drug Applications by the FDA for our product candidates does not guarantee FDA approval of such product candidates and the outcomes of later clinical trials for our product candidates may not be sufficient to submit a New Drug Application (NDA) with the FDA or to receive FDA approval. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties because they relate to events, competitive dynamics, industry change and other factors beyond our control, and depend on regulatory approvals and economic and other environmental circumstances that may or may not occur in the future or may occur on longer or shorter timelines than anticipated. We discuss many of these risks in greater detail under the heading “Risk Factors” in the quarterly and annual reports that we file with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and our actual results of operations, financial condition and liquidity, and the development of the industry in which we operate may differ materially from the forward-looking statements contained in this press release. Any forward-looking statements that we make in this press release speak only as of the date of this press release. We assume no obligation to update our forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, after the date of this press release.