Eyconis, Inc. Announces Appointment of Dr. Mark J. Bachleda as Chief Executive Officer and Member of the Board of Directors

Company actively advancing lead ophthalmology drug candidate to first Investigational New Drug (IND) filing

REDWOOD CITY, Calif., Sept. 19, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Eyconis, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing novel, best-in-class therapeutics for eye diseases, today announced that Mark J. Bachleda, Pharm.D., MBA, has been appointed as the Company’s Chief Executive Officer and a member of its Board of Directors. A biotech industry veteran with a career spanning more than 25 years, Dr. Bachleda brings to Eyconis a track record of exceptional leadership, management, and operational experience in both large and small biopharmaceutical environments internationally and in the United States.

“Mark is an accomplished and seasoned biopharma executive with broad development, manufacturing, and commercialization expertise – all of which will be critically important as we build and advance our pipeline of best-in-class ophthalmology therapeutics based on the TransCon technology platform,” said Dr. Emmett Cunningham, Eyconis co-founder and Executive Chairman of the Board. “Since our founding early this year, Eyconis has achieved tremendous strides toward filing an IND for our lead drug candidate for age-related macular degeneration (AMD). I have known Mark for years and am thrilled that he is leading the Company on this journey.”

“Eyconis has the potential to transform the treatment paradigm for eye diseases that are the leading causes of blindness, affecting millions of people worldwide,” commented Dr. Bachleda. “I am excited to join Eyconis at this pivotal time and feel truly fortunate to collaborate with a team that is so dedicated to making a significant difference in the lives of patients and their families.”

Dr. Bachleda has served in executive leadership roles at Amgen, Juno Therapeutics, and Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS), and most recently, he was Chief Commercial Officer at Galera Therapeutics. Prior to joining Galera, he served as Vice President & U.S. Business Unit Head of the CAR T cell therapy franchise at BMS, a role he held previously at Celgene Corporation before its acquisition by BMS for $74 billion in 2019. Prior to this, he was Vice President, Sales & Account Management at Juno when it was acquired by Celgene for $9 billion in 2018. Previously, he had a 15-year career at Amgen in the U.S. and international roles of increasing responsibility up to Country President & General Manager of Amgen Czech Republic. Earlier in his career, he held positions at Pfizer, Inc., and Johnson & Johnson. Dr. Bachleda is a registered pharmacist and received his Pharm.D. degree from the University of Illinois at Chicago. He completed a post-doctoral fellowship in health policy and economics at Thomas Jefferson University and earned MBA degrees from both Columbia University and the University of California, Berkeley.

In addition to Dr. Bachleda, members of the Eyconis Board of Directors include Dr. Cunningham, who serves as Executive Chair, Jan Mikkelsen, President & CEO of Ascendis Pharma A/S, Daniel Estes, Ph.D. and Anna Chen, Ph.D. of Frazier Life Sciences, Conrad Wang, M.D. from HealthQuest Capital, and Yvonne Yamanaka, Ph.D. from venBio Partners.

About the TransCon Technology Platform in Ophthalmology
Ascendis Pharma A/S has granted Eyconis exclusive, worldwide rights to develop, manufacture, and commercialize ophthalmology therapeutics using its clinically validated TransCon technology platform. An innovative platform for drug development, TransCon combines known biology with the benefits of conventional prodrug and sustained-release technologies to solve the fundamental limitations seen in other approaches to extending duration of a drug’s action on the body, supporting development of highly differentiated product candidates based on efficacy, safety, tolerability, or convenience. TransCon can be designed for a desired pharmacokinetic profile, leading to predictable release of unmodified parent drug supporting dosing frequency to six months or more to maximize patient adherence and improve overall treatment outcomes.

About Eyconis, Inc.
Eyconis, Inc. is a privately held, pre-clinical stage biopharmaceutical company focused on transforming the ophthalmology treatment paradigm through the development, manufacture, and commercialization of novel, best-in-class therapeutics for eye diseases. The Company is advancing a pipeline of therapeutic candidates addressing areas of high unmet need, including wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Eyconis is partnered with a syndicate of leading biopharma investors, including Frazier Life Sciences, RA Capital Management, venBio Partners, and HealthQuest Capital. The Company is headquartered in Redwood City, California, including research & development laboratories with scientific and manufacturing team members.

CONTACT:
Rolf Jansen, Vice President
Operations & Project Management
info@eyconis.com