(PRESS RELEASE) NEW YORK – Eyenovia Inc. announced that it has appointed Kenneth B. Lee Jr., Charles E. Mather IV and Anthony Y. Sun as independent members of its board of directors, effective immediately.
Eyenovia (Nasdaq: EYEN) is a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company developing a pipeline of ophthalmology products using its patented piezo-print technology to deliver micro-therapeutics topically to the eye.
Lee will serve as chairman of the Audit Committee and Sun will chair the Compensation Committee.
Dr. Sean Ianchulev, Eyenovia’s CEO and chief medical officer, said, “We are pleased these three industry veterans have joined our Board of Directors at such an exciting time in Eyenovia’s history. They join a team that brings a tremendous amount of experience to Eyenovia and we believe that, together, we will help guide Eyenovia through our near and long-term milestones. Following our successful IPO, we plan to initiate phase 3 studies in two of our assets in the second half of 2018, bringing us closer to a therapeutic paradigm shift in ophthalmology; and we believe our reinforced Board will help us realize that potential.”
Lee, 70, has been a general partner of Hatteras Venture Partners LLC, a venture capital fund focusing on life science companies since January 2003. Previously he was president of A.M. Pappas & Associates LLC following 29 years with Ernst & Young LLP, where he was most recently managing director of the firm’s health sciences corporate finance group, and at one time served as the national director of the Life Sciences Practice. Lee serves on the boards of Aralez Pharmaceuticals Inc. and BioCryst Pharmaceuticals Inc. Previously, Lee has served on the boards of several private companies and public companies, including Abgenix Inc. (acquired by Amgen Inc.), CV Therapeutics Inc. (acquired by Gilead Sciences Inc.), Inspire Pharmaceuticals Inc. (acquired by Merck &Co. Inc.), Maxygen Inc. (dissolved) and OSI Pharmaceuticals Inc. (acquired by Astellas Pharma Inc.). Lee received a B.A. from Lenoir-Rhyne College and an M.B.A. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Mather, 57, has been managing director, co-head of Equity Capital Markets at BTIG LLC since March 2015. From December 2009 to February 2015 he was the head of private and alternative capital and co-head of equity capital markets at Janney Montgomery Scott LLC. Between May 2007 and September 2008, Mather was the head of the structured equity group at Jefferies Group Inc. Prior to that, Mather held various senior investment banking positions at Cowen and Co., including as co-head of the private equity group. Mather serves on the board of Tonix Pharmaceuticals Holdings Corp. and Wentz LLC. Mather also served on the board of the Finance Company of Pennsylvania until August 2017. Mather received a B.A. in history from Brown University and an M.B.A. in finance from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.
Sun, 46, is involved with many private biotechnology companies. Sun was at Aisling Capital, a private equity firm dedicated to life sciences, from September 2002 until May 2015, during which he held multiple positions most recently as partner. Sun serves on the board of Versartis Inc., Immusoft Corp. and several other private companies. Sun holds a B.S. in electrical engineering from Cornell University, an M.D. from Temple University School of Medicine, and an M.B.A. from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. He trained in internal medicine at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and was board-certified in internal medicine.