Clearside Biomedical Appoints Carol Hoang as Vice President, Medical Affairs

ALPHARETTA, Ga., July 11, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Clearside Biomedical, Inc. (NASDAQ:CLSD), a biopharmaceutical company dedicated to developing treatments that restore and preserve vision for people with serious eye diseases, today announced the appointment of Carol Hoang, Pharm.D., MBA, to the position of Vice President, Medical Affairs.

Dr. Hoang brings over 17 years of experience across multiple sectors of the global healthcare industry to Clearside.  Prior to joining Clearside, Dr. Hoang was Vice President, Medical Affairs for DigiSight Technologies, Inc., a digital health company developing mobile solutions to enhance vision care for patients and doctors.  Previously, she served as Global Executive Medical Director at Novartis Pharma AG, leading global medical strategy in ophthalmology.  Before joining Novartis, she held senior marketing and medical affairs positions at Genentech, Inc., where she helped launch Lucentis in 2006.  Dr. Hoang’s previous experience includes various roles at Oncology Therapeutics Network, a subsidiary of Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, and at CVS Caremark, the prescription benefit management subsidiary of CVS Health.  Dr. Hoang earned her dual Pharm.D/MBA degree from the University of Southern California. 

“Carol is a seasoned executive with a strong track record of success managing medical affairs for both large and emerging ophthalmic companies,” said Clearside’s Chief Executive Officer and President, Daniel H. White.  “Her ability to build advocacy and create compelling scientific communication platforms will be a tremendous asset as we continue to plan for Clearside’s potential transition from a clinical-stage to a commercial-stage company.”

About Clearside

Clearside Biomedical, Inc. is a biopharmaceutical company dedicated to developing treatments that restore and preserve vision for people with serious eye diseases.  Clearside’s proprietary suprachoroidal treatment approach offers unprecedented access to the back of the eye where sight-threatening disease often occurs.  The company’s unique platform for eye disease treatments is inherently flexible and intended to work with established medicines, new formulations of medicines, as well as future innovations.  Clearside’s pipeline includes advanced and pre-clinical product candidates in diseases where macular edema is a common complication, including uveitis, retinal vein occlusion (“RVO”) and diabetic macular edema (“DME”).  Clearside’s most advanced program is in non-infectious uveitis and it expects to submit a New Drug Application (“NDA”) to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) for use of suprachoroidal CLS-TA for the treatment of macular edema associated with non-infectious uveitis by the end of 2018.  The company is also conducting two ongoing Phase 3 trials of suprachoroidal CLS-TA with an intravitreal anti-VEGF agent in patients with RVO.  In addition, Clearside recently announced positive topline results from a Phase 2 clinical trial of suprachoroidal CLS-TA used with EYLEA® (aflibercept) in patients with DME, and is continuing to analyze additional data from the trial as it becomes available.  Clearside  is headquartered in Alpharetta, GA.  For more information, please visit .  Follow @clearsidebio on Twitter and Linkedin.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

Any statements contained in this press release that do not describe historical facts may constitute forward-looking statements as that term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.  These statements may be identified by words such as “believe”, “expect”, “may”, “plan”, “potential”, “will”, and similar expressions, and are based on Clearside’s current beliefs and expectations.  These forward-looking statements include expectations regarding Clearside transitioning from a clinical-stage company to a commercial-stage company, the potential clinical development of Clearside’s product candidates, the timing of a potential filing of an NDA with the FDA, and the potential commercialization of suprachoroidal CLS-TA.  These statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those reflected in such statements.  Risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially include uncertainties inherent in the conduct of clinical trials, Clearside’s reliance on third parties over which it may not always have full control, and other risks and uncertainties that are described in Clearside’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2017, filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) on March 16, 2018, and Clearside’s other periodic and current reports filed with the SEC from time to time.  Any forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this press release and are based on information available to Clearside as of the date of this release, and Clearside assumes no obligation to, and does not intend to, update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Contacts:

Stephen Kilmer

Investor Relations

(678) 430-8206

Charles Deignan

Chief Financial Officer

(678) 270-4005