SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Allegro Ophthalmics LLC, , a privately held biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of novel integrin-regulating therapies for the treatment of ocular diseases, today announced that William J. Link, PhD, has been appointed chairman by the company’s board of directors and that Stephanie Yee was named vice president of finance.

Vicken Karageozian, M.D., president and CEO of Allegro Ophthalmics, said, “I am thrilled that Bill has agreed to serve as our board chairman and pleased to promote Stephanie as VP of finance and member of the executive team. Bill is a pioneer whose vast experience in building and leading successful ophthalmic companies is a tremendous asset at this exciting moment at Allegro. Stephanie has a deep and extensive record in managing the financial operations of a variety of businesses. Their appointments will help to ensure Allegro’s success as we advance our drug candidates—risuteganib for the treatment of intermediate non-exudative age-related macular degeneration (dry AMD) and ALG-1007 for the treatment of dry eye disease—through clinical development.”

Dr. Link is founder and principal of Flying L. Partners and is a founder and managing director of Versant Ventures. Prior to Versant, Dr. Link was a general partner at Brentwood Venture Capital. With more than two decades of operations experience in the healthcare industry, Dr. Link has a proven record of building and managing large, successful medical product companies, including Chiron Vision where he was co-founder, chairman and CEO until it was sold to Bausch + Lomb in 1997. Dr. Link also founded and served as president of American Medical Optics (AMO), a division of American Hospital Supply Corporation, which was sold to Allergan in 1986.

Bringing more than two decades of accounting and finance experience to Allegro, Ms. Yee has held several management roles at ZO Skin Health and ClariPhy Communications, as well as at Emulex Corporation, which was acquired by Avago Technologies and later merged with Broadcom. During her tenure, she became the resident SEC reporting expert and managed due diligence and integration for three acquisitions. Ms. Yee also worked at IntraLase. When IntraLase was acquired by AMO, Ms. Yee coordinated the company’s integration into AMO, now part of Johnson & Johnson.

About Allegro Ophthalmics, LLC

Allegro Ophthalmics, LLC is a privately held biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of novel integrin-regulating therapies for the treatment of ocular diseases. Pre-clinical data suggest that risuteganib (Luminate®), Allegro’s lead investigational compound in retina, may simultaneously act on the angiogenic, inflammatory and mitochondrial metabolic pathways implicated in diseases, such as dry AMD. A U.S. Phase 2a study with risuteganib in less advanced dry AMD met its primary endpoint of vision recovery. Expanding its integrin-regulating portfolio, Allegro has developed ALG-1007 for topical use in dry eye disease. ALG-1007 demonstrated promising results in an ex-U.S. proof-of-concept study in humans and is currently being evaluated in a second and larger ex-U.S. Phase 2 study. For more information, visit www.allegroeye.com.

Risuteganib (Luminate®) and ALG-1007 are investigational drugs and are not approved for commercial sale.

Luminate® is a registered trademark of Allegro Ophthalmics, LLC.

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