MELBOURNE, Australia and PRINCETON, N.J.—Opthea Limited (ASX/NASDAQ: OPT), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing novel therapies to treat highly prevalent and progressive retinal diseases, including wet age-related macular degeneration (wet AMD), has announced the appointment of John Han, PharmD, to the role of vice president, medical affairs, effective April 9, 2024. Dr. Han will report to chief executive officer Frederic Guerard, PharmD, and will join the Opthea executive management team. Dr. Han brings more than 20 years of experience building medical affairs programs and partnering across organizations to lead pre- and post-launch initiatives for medicines in ophthalmology and retinal disease.

Over the course of his career, Dr. Han has served in senior leadership positions in medical and scientific affairs at leading biopharmaceutical companies. His career includes roles of increasing responsibility at Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc., ISTA Pharmaceuticals, Chiron Corporation, Amgen Inc. and Bayer AG. He joins Opthea from Adverum Biotechnologies, Inc., where he led the development of the Medical Affairs function.

“We are very pleased to welcome Dr. Han to the Opthea team. As we get close to completing the enrollment in our second Phase 3 trial (ShORe) with sozinibercept in wet AMD, we are initiating our launch preparations,” said Dr. Guerard. “Dr. Han’s established track record of defining and executing effective medical affairs strategies and supporting pre-launch activities of new therapies for patients with retinal disease will be invaluable to the potential success of sozinibercept.”

Dr. Han commented, “Most of my career in medical affairs has been dedicated to developing and launching transformational products in ophthalmology and retinal diseases. As a result of this work, I have a firsthand understanding of the incredible challenges faced by patients with wet AMD.

"The opportunity to contribute to the development of a groundbreaking therapy that has the potential to be the first product in more than 15 years to provide superior and meaningful visual outcomes in patients is what brought me to Opthea. As we work toward the release of top line results for the sozinibercept Phase 3 program in mid-2025, I look forward to working with this incredibly dedicated team to bring this product candidate to patients.”