Clearside Biomedical CEO and leadership

Dr. Lasezkay currently is the Chief Executive Officer and a director of Clearside Biomedical, Inc.

Dr. Lasezkay has served as an independent director on the boards of a number of domestic and foreign emerging pharmaceutical companies, both public and private. He has been an advisor to the biopharma industry on business development, licensing, and strategic partnering/M&A. Dr. Lasezkay has extensive experience in private legal practice, hospital pharmacy practice, clinical pharmacokinetics consultation, clinical drug research, and pharmacy and legal education.

Recently, he served as Executive Vice President, General Counsel at Acucela Inc., a development stage company that specializes in identifying and developing novel ophthalmic therapeutics. Previously, he was Corporate Vice President of Corporate Development and Assistant General Counsel for Allergan, Inc., a global pharmaceutical and medical aesthetics company. In these positions, he played a critical role in developing corporate strategy and was responsible for licensing, R&D collaboration and acquisition transactions involving both products and companies.

Dr. Lasezkay earned B.S. Pharmacy and Doctor of Pharmacy degrees from the State University of New York at Buffalo and a J.D. degree from the University of Southern California Law Center. He holds a certificate in alternative dispute resolution from the Straus Institute of Dispute Resolution of the Pepperdine University School of Law. and most recently held the position of adjunct professor of law at University of San Diego Law School.

Specialties: Ophthalmology, dermatology, therapeutic and aesthetic toxins

Pharmaceutical/biotech licensing and strategic partnering

Licensed to practice law (active): California, D.C., Washington State (in-house counsel)

Licensed to practice pharmacy (inactive): California, New York

Mark Prausnitz is Regents’ Professor of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering, Love Family Professor of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering, and Director of the Center for Drug Design, Development and Delivery at the Georgia Institute of Technology. His research interests focus on biophysical methods of drug delivery, which employ microfabricated devices, microneedles, ultrasound, lasers, electric fields and other physical means to control the transport of drugs, proteins, genes and vaccines into and within the body. Dr. Prausnitz earned a B.S. degree from Stanford University and a Ph.D. degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, both in chemical engineering. He worked for one year at Alza Corporation carrying out research on transdermal drug delivery systems and for one year at ORBIS International teaching biomedical engineering in developing country hospitals. He has co-founded three start-up companies, most recently Clearside Biomedical. At Georgia Tech, Dr. Prausnitz teaches an introductory course on engineering calculations, as well as two advanced courses on pharmaceuticals and technical communication, both of which he developed. He also serves the broader scientific and business communities as a frequent consultant, advisory board member and expert witness. Dr. Prausnitz has published more than 160 research articles; given 150 invited lectures at conferences, universities and companies; filed 35 issued or pending patents; and supervised more than 30 doctoral theses.

Mr. Deignan has 24 years of financial experience in the healthcare industry at both private and public companies. He facilitated the successful initial public offerings of two healthcare companies and has participated in multiple equity and debt financing totaling more than $500 million. He was also a member of the negotiating team that closed partnership agreement with a major pharmaceutical company, resulting in over $100 million funding. Prior to joining Clearside, Mr. Deignan was the VP, Finance and Administration, and Principal Accounting Officer at AtheroGenics, Inc. for 10 years. He previously held management positions at aaiPharma, Schering-Plough and Salutria Pharmaceuticals. Mr. Deignan graduated from Boston University with a degree in business administration.

LINKING INDUSTRY R&D TO PRACTICAL EXPERTISE IN RETINA DISEASE & CLINICAL RESEARCHA board-certified ophthalmologist and retinal specialist, I have 25 years of executive management, clinical practice, and academic experience. Currently, I serve as Chief Medical Officer and Chief Development Officer at Clearside Biomedical. Previously, I served a VP role, as Medical Strategy Lead-Ophthalmology at Spark Therapeutics, where I defined and led medical strategy to support commercialization of Luxturna, the first FDA-approved gene therapy for a hereditary genetic disease. This milestone punctuated a new cycle of innovation in gene therapy, and involved the introduction of novel paradigms to clinical ophthalmology, including gene therapy administration procedures, new functional vision endpoints, complex genetic testing paradigms, as well as unique development, launch, and reimbursement considerations associated with orphan therapies and one-time gene therapies. Prior to Spark Therapeutics, I served a VP role, in Clinical Strategy at Ophthotech (Iveric Bio).After graduating from Harvard College, UCSF Med School, and completing internship, residency and fellowship at Harvard and Tufts Med Schools, I co-directed the retina service and ocular angiogenesis research lab at Indiana University School of Medicine, the largest US med school. I remain a volunteer Clinical Professor at the university and serve on the Board of Directors of Midwest Eye Institute, one of the largest subspecialty ophthalmology institutes in the Midwest.I have held numerous leadership roles in clinical research, including principal investigator, medical monitor, and member of scientific advisory, data safety monitoring or writing committees in over 100 national clinical trials. I serve on journal editorial boards, have presented at over 200 conferences, edited several textbooks, and co-authored over 200 publications, including the first published US-based randomized clinical trial on any intravitreal therapy in neovascular AMD.I also earned an MBA from Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business, specializing in the business of medicine, and remain an active member of the American Society of Gene and Cell Therapy, Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology, Macula Society, Retina Society, American Society of Retina Specialists, and the American Academy of Ophthalmology.

Mark Prausnitz is Regents’ Professor of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering, Love Family Professor of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering, and Director of the Center for Drug Design, Development and Delivery at the Georgia Institute of Technology. His research interests focus on biophysical methods of drug delivery, which employ microfabricated devices, microneedles, ultrasound, lasers, electric fields and other physical means to control the transport of drugs, proteins, genes and vaccines into and within the body. Dr. Prausnitz earned a B.S. degree from Stanford University and a Ph.D. degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, both in chemical engineering. He worked for one year at Alza Corporation carrying out research on transdermal drug delivery systems and for one year at ORBIS International teaching biomedical engineering in developing country hospitals. He has co-founded three start-up companies, most recently Clearside Biomedical. At Georgia Tech, Dr. Prausnitz teaches an introductory course on engineering calculations, as well as two advanced courses on pharmaceuticals and technical communication, both of which he developed. He also serves the broader scientific and business communities as a frequent consultant, advisory board member and expert witness. Dr. Prausnitz has published more than 160 research articles; given 150 invited lectures at conferences, universities and companies; filed 35 issued or pending patents; and supervised more than 30 doctoral theses.

Dr. Lasezkay currently is the Chief Executive Officer and a director of Clearside Biomedical, Inc.

Dr. Lasezkay has served as an independent director on the boards of a number of domestic and foreign emerging pharmaceutical companies, both public and private. He has been an advisor to the biopharma industry on business development, licensing, and strategic partnering/M&A. Dr. Lasezkay has extensive experience in private legal practice, hospital pharmacy practice, clinical pharmacokinetics consultation, clinical drug research, and pharmacy and legal education.

Recently, he served as Executive Vice President, General Counsel at Acucela Inc., a development stage company that specializes in identifying and developing novel ophthalmic therapeutics. Previously, he was Corporate Vice President of Corporate Development and Assistant General Counsel for Allergan, Inc., a global pharmaceutical and medical aesthetics company. In these positions, he played a critical role in developing corporate strategy and was responsible for licensing, R&D collaboration and acquisition transactions involving both products and companies.

Dr. Lasezkay earned B.S. Pharmacy and Doctor of Pharmacy degrees from the State University of New York at Buffalo and a J.D. degree from the University of Southern California Law Center. He holds a certificate in alternative dispute resolution from the Straus Institute of Dispute Resolution of the Pepperdine University School of Law. and most recently held the position of adjunct professor of law at University of San Diego Law School.

Specialties: Ophthalmology, dermatology, therapeutic and aesthetic toxins

Pharmaceutical/biotech licensing and strategic partnering

Licensed to practice law (active): California, D.C., Washington State (in-house counsel)

Licensed to practice pharmacy (inactive): California, New York