Clearside Biomedical Appoints Tony Gibney as New Chair of the Board of Directors

Clearside Biomedical, Inc. (Nasdaq: CLSD), a biopharmaceutical company revolutionizing the delivery of therapies to the back of the eye through the suprachoroidal space (SCS®), announced today the appointment of Tony Gibney as Chair of its Board of Directors, effective November 1, 2024. Mr. Gibney, who joined Clearside’s Board as an independent director in April 2024, succeeds Clay Thorp, who will continue serving as a member of the Board.

George Lasezkay, PharmD, JD, President and Chief Executive Officer, Clearside Biomedical, commented, “Tony is a highly respected member of our Board, bringing a wealth of strategic leadership experience in the ophthalmic industry and insightful capital markets expertise. We are delighted to have Tony take on the role as Chair of the Board. We are also deeply grateful to Clay for his significant contributions to Clearside as Board Chair and we look forward to his continued guidance.”

“Clearside has a valuable and differentiated pipeline and drug delivery platform with a commercial product and multiple promising development programs ongoing both internally and by our partners. In particular, the recent ODYSSEY Phase 2b results with CLS-AX in wet AMD reveal a potential best in class profile that will be strategically important in a very prevalent retinal disease. I am honored to be named Chair at this important time for the Company as we continue expanding the use of our market-leading suprachoroidal delivery platform on our own and with corporate partners to treat a variety of retinal diseases,” concluded Mr. Gibney.

Tony Gibney is an experienced biotechnology executive and former investment banker who brings over 30 years of experience dedicated to advising and leading biotechnology companies in the U.S. and Europe on business strategy, collaboration transactions, financings, and mergers and acquisitions. Most recently, Mr. Gibney served as the Executive Vice President, Chief Business & Strategy officer of Iveric Bio, Inc. until the company’s acquisition by Astellas Pharma Inc. in July 2023. Prior to that, Mr. Gibney served as Chief Financial Officer and Chief Business Officer at Fog Pharmaceuticals, Inc., where he oversaw its business development, strategy and finance functions, and he served as Executive Vice President and Chief Business Officer at Achillion Pharmaceuticals, where he led the sale of Achillion to Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. in 2020. Before Achillion, Mr. Gibney was a Managing Director and Co-head of the biotechnology investment banking team at Leerink Partners LLC, and Managing Director of Merrill Lynch’s healthcare group. He currently serves on the boards of directors of LAPIX Therapeutics, Inc. and InflaRx N.V. and provides strategic consulting services to select biotechnology companies. Mr. Gibney received a B.A. in Economics and a B.A. in History from Yale University.

About Clearside Biomedical, Inc.

Clearside Biomedical, Inc. is a biopharmaceutical company revolutionizing the delivery of therapies to the back of the eye through the suprachoroidal space (SCS®) to improve patient outcomes. Clearside’s SCS injection platform, utilizing the Company’s patented SCS Microinjector®, enables an in-office, repeatable, non-surgical procedure for the targeted and compartmentalized delivery of a wide variety of therapies to the macula, retina, or choroid to potentially preserve and improve vision in patients with sight-threatening eye diseases. Clearside is developing its own pipeline of small molecule product candidates for administration via its SCS Microinjector. The Company’s lead program, CLS-AX (axitinib injectable suspension), for the treatment of neovascular age-related macular degeneration (wet AMD), recently completed a Phase 2b clinical trial, and planning for a Phase 3 program is underway. Clearside developed and gained approval for its first product, XIPERE® (triamcinolone acetonide injectable suspension) for suprachoroidal use, which is available in the U.S. through a commercial partner. Clearside also strategically partners its SCS injection platform with companies utilizing other ophthalmic therapeutic innovations. For more information, please visit clearsidebio.com or follow us on LinkedIn and X.

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 statements regarding the Company’s intention to continue to expand the use of its suprachoroidal delivery platform to treat a variety of retinal diseases, the potential of the Company’s development programs as well as the potential benefits to the Company of Mr. Gibney’s leadership experience and capital markets expertise. 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, 2023, filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on March 12, 2024, Clearside’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2024 filed with the SEC on August 12, 2024 and Clearside’s other Periodic Reports filed with the SEC. 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.

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Source: Clearside Biomedical, Inc.