Opthea announces the resignation of chief medical officer and the appointment of senior medical advisor

Naor is stepping down to pursue new opportunities and will be replaced by Kenneth Sall, MD who has been appointed as Opthea’s Senior Medical Advisor. (Image Credit: Freedomz/Adobe Stock)

Opthea Limited announced the resignation of Joel Naor, MD, MSc, MBA, Chief Medical Officer (CMO), effective July 15, 2023. In the press release, the company shared that Naor is stepping down to pursue new opportunities and will be replaced by Kenneth Sall, MD who has been appointed as Opthea’s Senior Medical Advisor. Sall will assume responsibility for safety oversight of the Opthea’s Phase 3 clinical trials investigating OPT-302, a novel VEGF-C/D ‘trap’ inhibitor, for the treatment of wet age-related macular degeneration (wet AMD).¹

Sall’s background includes having served as the medical director for over 33 years at the Sall Research Medical Center. His time in this role included several years as principal investigator on a number of large ophthalmology trials including several on macular degeneration. Sall is a graduate of the University of Southern California (USC), Keck School of Medicine.¹

Commenting on the changes in management, Megan Baldwin, PhD, CEO and Managing Director of Opthea said the following in the company’s news release, “We appreciate Dr Naor’s contribution to executing Opthea’s ongoing Phase 3 clinical trials. We wish him the very best as he embarks on his new journey and are excited to commence working with Dr Sall as we advance OPT-302 through its final stage of clinical development.”¹

In the press release, Naor shared a comment on the company’s future following his departure saying, “Opthea is well positioned to realize the promise of OPT-302 to improve on the existing standard of care as a complementary therapy for the treatment of wet AMD. I am grateful for the time I was able to work there and wish the company success as it approaches the commercialization phase for this potentially transformative wet AMD treatment.”¹

About Opthea Limited

Opthea is a biopharmaceutical company developing novel therapies to address the unmet need in the treatment of highly prevalent and progressive retinal diseases, including wet age-related macular degeneration (wet AMD) and diabetic macular edema (DME). Opthea’s lead product candidate OPT-302 is in pivotal Phase 3 clinical trials and being developed for use in combination with anti-VEGF-A monotherapies to achieve broader inhibition of the VEGF family, with the goal of improving overall efficacy and demonstrating superior vision gains over that which can be achieved by inhibiting VEGF-A alone.

Reference:

1. Opthea Announces Departure of Chief Medical Officer and Appointment of Senior Medical Advisor. Opthea Limited. July 10, 2023. Access July 10, 2023. https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2023/07/10/2701565/0/en/Opthea-Announces-Departure-of-Chief-Medical-Officer-and-Appointment-of-Senior-Medical-Advisor.html