Aerie Pharmaceuticals Announces Appointment of Tori Arens as Vice President of Drug Product Manufacturing & Eric Carlson, Ph....
19 September 2017 - 8:30PM
Business Wire
Aerie Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:AERI), a clinical-stage
pharmaceutical company focused on the discovery, development and
commercialization of first-in-class therapies for the treatment of
open-angle glaucoma and other diseases of the eye, today announced
the appointment of Tori Arens as Vice President of Drug Product
Manufacturing, reporting to Kenneth Ruettimann, Ph.D., Aerie’s Vice
President of Manufacturing. Aerie also announced the appointment of
Eric Carlson, Ph.D. as Vice President of Research and Development,
reporting to Casey Kopczynski, Ph.D., Aerie’s Chief Scientific
Officer.
Ms. Arens will be responsible for defining and implementing drug
product development and manufacturing strategies for the clinical
and commercial supply of Aerie’s products. Ms. Arens previously
held related leadership positions at Biogen and Eisai, and holds an
M.S. in Pharmaceutics from The University of North Carolina at
Chapel Hill.
Dr. Carlson will provide strategic direction and leadership for
Aerie’s research and development activities aimed at advancing the
Aerie pipeline. Dr. Carlson was most recently Senior Global Program
Head of Ophthalmology at Alcon Pharmaceuticals/Novartis. He was
also previously Assistant Professor, Department of Ophthalmology
and Visual Sciences, Case Western Reserve University, and holds a
Ph.D. in Cell and Molecular Biology from the University of
Cincinnati College of Medicine.
In connection with the acceptance of their positions, Ms. Arens
and Dr. Carlson on a combined basis will receive awards totaling
48,750 stock options and 22,750 shares of restricted stock. The
stock options will vest over 4 years, with 25% vesting on the first
anniversary of the hire date and the remainder vesting ratably on
each of the subsequent 36 monthly anniversaries of the hire date;
the restricted stock will vest over a period of 4 years in four
equal annual installments on each anniversary of the hire date.
These awards were made outside of Aerie’s stockholder-approved
equity incentive plan and were approved by the Company’s
Compensation Committee as an inducement material to Ms. Arens and
Dr. Carlson entering into employment with the Company in reliance
on NASDAQ Listing Rule 5635(c)(4), which requires this public
announcement.
About Aerie Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Aerie is a clinical-stage pharmaceutical company focused on the
discovery, development and commercialization of first-in-class
therapies for the treatment of patients with glaucoma and other
diseases of the eye. Aerie's two current product candidates are
once-daily intraocular pressure lowering therapies with novel
mechanisms of action to treat patients with glaucoma or ocular
hypertension. The NDA (new drug application) for RhopressaTM
(netarsudil ophthalmic solution) 0.02% was submitted to the U.S.
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in February 2017, and, in May
2017, the FDA set the PDUFA (Prescription Drug User Fee Act) goal
date for the completion of the FDA’s review of the RhopressaTM NDA
for February 28, 2018. Aerie’s second product candidate, RoclatanTM
(netarsudil/latanoprost ophthalmic solution) 0.02%/0.005%, which is
a fixed dose combination of RhopressaTM and widely prescribed PGA
latanoprost, achieved its primary efficacy endpoint in two Phase 3
registration trials, named Mercury 1 and Mercury 2, and also
achieved successful 12-month safety and efficacy results in Mercury
1. The RoclatanTM NDA submission is expected to take place in the
first half of 2018. Aerie is also focused on international
expansion and the development of additional product candidates and
technologies in ophthalmology.
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 include statements regarding our
intentions, beliefs, projections, outlook, analyses or current
expectations concerning, among other things: the success, timing
and cost of our ongoing and anticipated preclinical studies and
clinical trials for our current product candidates, including
statements regarding the timing of initiation and completion of the
studies and trials; our expectations regarding the clinical
effectiveness of our product candidates and results of our clinical
trials; the timing of and our ability to request, obtain and
maintain FDA or other regulatory authority approval of, or other
action with respect to, our product candidates, including the
expected timing of, and timing of regulatory and/or other review
of, filings for our product candidates; our expectations regarding
the commercialization of our product candidates; the potential
advantages of our product candidates; our plans to pursue
development of our product candidates for additional indications
and other therapeutic opportunities; our plans to explore possible
uses of our existing proprietary compounds beyond glaucoma; our
ability to protect our proprietary technology and enforce our
intellectual property rights; and our expectations regarding
strategic operations, including our ability to in-license or
acquire additional ophthalmic products or product candidates or
technologies. 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). In particular, the receipt of the
PDUFA goal date notification does not constitute FDA approval of
the RhopressaTM NDA, and there can be no assurance that the FDA
will complete its review by the PDUFA goal date, that the FDA will
not require changes or additional data, whether as a result of
recommendations, if any, made by any FDA advisory committee or
otherwise, that must be made or received before it will approve the
NDA, if ever, or that the FDA will approve the NDA. 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.
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version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170919005007/en/
Aerie PharmaceuticalsRichard Rubino,
908-947-3540rrubino@aeriepharma.comorBurns McClellan, Inc., on
behalf of Aerie PharmaceuticalsInvestorsAmi Bavishi,
212-213-0006abavishi@burnsmc.comorMediaJustin Jackson,
212-213-0006jjackson@burnsmc.com
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