Oxular Limited Appoints Dr. Rafiq Hasan as Non-Executive Director
OXFORD, UK, 5 October 2020 – Oxular Limited (“Oxular”), a leading retinal therapeutics development company, today announces it has appointed Dr. Rafiq Hasan as a Non-Executive Director of the Company.
Dr. Hasan gained his medical degree in London and has pursued a highly successful career in the pharmaceutical industry globally, including senior positions with Bayer and Novartis. In addition, Rafiq is currently Chief Executive Officer of EXACT-Therapeutics, a clinical stage Anglo-Norwegian biotech company developing a technology platform for targeted therapeutic enhancement – Acoustic Cluster Therapy (ACT®).
Rafiq has a proven track record of leading global cross-functional teams to manage multi-billion-dollar global franchises and deliver year-on-year sales growth. As SVP and Global Head of Ophthalmology at Bayer, Dr Hasan grew the business of Eylea® from launch to over $2.5bn in five years, including its launch in five indications in three years.
David Fellows, Chairman of Oxular commented:
“On behalf of the Board, I would like to welcome Rafiq to Oxular. We are delighted to have a world-leading pharma professional and physician on our Board to accelerate our platform drug and device technology in the retinal disease space.”
Thomas Cavanagh, Chief Executive Officer of Oxular commented:
“We are excited at the prospect of working with Rafiq, and we look forward to the contributions he will provide given his considerable experience in the sector. Rafiq joins us at a critical time when we are advancing our lead program for diabetic macular edema (DME) into humans and are increasingly focused on maximising the commercial potential of Oxular’s sustained release drug formulation and ocular administration technology.”
Dr. Rafiq Hasan, Non-Executive Director of Oxular said:
“Oxular has made significant progress to develop truly innovative technology for treating retinal diseases. Delivering long-acting drug products to critical sight-seeing tissues of the eye with minimally invasive delivery has the potential to be transformational across different modalities for several ocular diseases and conditions. I am very impressed with the preclinical data where Oxular has shown therapeutic drug levels in retinal tissues approaching one year following single administration. I am truly excited to join Oxular as it prepares its programs to enter the clinic.
