Outlook Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:OTLK) has announced the appointments of Dr Surendra Sharma as senior vice president of medical affairs and Glen Olsheim as executive director of commercial excellence as it grows its leadership team.
The biopharmaceutical company said Sharma has more than 15 years of experience in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries leading corporate alliances among research and development (R&D), commercial, marketing and business stakeholders. Olsheim brings more than 15 years of product commercialization experience in ophthalmology, it added.
“Their respective backgrounds in directing the medical affairs of an ophthalmic portfolio and of driving the successful launch and commercialization of ophthalmic products will be tremendously valuable as we move towards the commercial launch of ONS-5010 ophthalmic bevacizumab, pending its approval by the US FDA,” Outlook Therapeutics president and CEO Russell Trenary said in a statement.
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Outlook Therapeutics noted that most recently, Sharma was senior medical director for cornea, dry eye and retina, and was in charge of global medical affairs at Santen Pharmaceuticals. Over the course of his career at companies including Spark Therapeutics, Biogen, Alcon Laboratories, and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, he led global scientific communications strategies designed to align and meet the needs of key stakeholders in the North American and global markets.
The company said Sharma’s ability to create and maintain key relationships between the company and key opinion leaders, the medical and scientific community, patients and advocacy groups, health authorities, and regulatory agencies will be instrumental for the potential launch and commercialization of ONS-5010 ophthalmic bevacizumab.
“I am excited to join Outlook Therapeutics at this important inflection point in the company’s development of ONS-5010, which I anticipate will offer an important new therapeutic bevacizumab option to retina patients, that is designed to actually meet standards required for ophthalmic approval,” Sharma added.
Meanwhile, before joining Outlook Therapeutics, in his role as the vice president of business and new product development at Fagron Sterile Services, Olsheim focused on driving revenue, profit and value in repackaging IV (intravenous) bevacizumab for ophthalmic use in retina indications.
His familiarity with marketing these off-label products for sale to ophthalmologists brings specific focus to his strong network of industry contacts from major eye institutes and hospitals, the company said, adding that his experience and networks will be important for the potential launch and commercialization of ONS-5010 ophthalmic bevacizumab.
“I believe my familiarity with the processes for repackaging IV bevacizumab for retinal use complemented by my experience in launching ophthalmic products and commercializing them at scale is well-aligned with Outlook Therapeutics’ needs as it moves toward the potential commercial launch of ONS-5010,” Olsheim said.
Outlook Therapeutics is a biopharmaceutical company working to develop and launch ONS-5010/ LYTENAVA (bevacizumab-vikg) as the first US Food & Drug Administration (FDA) approved ophthalmic formulation of bevacizumab for use in retinal indications, including wet AMD, DME and BRVO.
Contact the author at stephen.gunnion@proactiveinvestors.com