Oculis appoints David Jacobs as Chief Development Officer

Oculis S.A., a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing transformative topical ophthalmic treatments to improve the sight and lives of patients, announces the appointment of David Jacobs, M.D., as Chief Development Officer. Dr. Jacobs will be based in Oculis’ newly established U.S. office. In this new role, he will be responsible for leading all development plans and achieving market authorizations by coordinating all regulatory activities required for future New Drug Application (NDA) submissions to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and the equivalent for regulators in other territories.

Dr. Jacobs brings more than 20 years of leadership experience covering all aspects of drug development. He joins Oculis from Osmotica Pharmaceuticals, at which he was Vice President Clinical Development and Medical Affairs since 2017. During his tenure, in addition to successfully leading clinical programs from Phase 1 to Phase 4 in several therapeutic areas including ophthalmology, he was a key contributor to multiple successful regulatory submissions in the U.S. and Europe. Prior to his role at Osmotica, Dr. Jacobs held drug development leadership positions at Daiichi-Sankyo, Johnson & Johnson, Aptalis Pharmaceuticals and King Pharmaceuticals.

Riad Sherif, M.D., CEO of Oculis, said: “We are very pleased to welcome David to our growing team. We are driving our business forward across all fronts following the recent positive Phase 2 clinical results with our lead candidate OCS-01 in diabetic macular edema and post-ocular surgery while accelerating OCS-02 developement in Dry Eye Disease with its personalized medicine approach. Building our presence in the U.S. and expanding our global development capabilities are crucial to our growth strategy and David certainly brings key skills and experience to support Oculis on this journey.”

David Jacobs, M.D. said: “I am very impressed with the great progress that Oculis has made in this very important segment of the pharma industry. I am also impressed with the quality and shared vision of its global team and delighted to be joining at this crucial point in its development. I am confident that my experience in progressing drug candidates successfully through development and enabling novel products to reach patients will prove valuable to Oculis as it advances OCS-01 and OCS-02 in the coming years.”