Opthea appoints Arshad M. Khanani as chief medical advisor
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Key takeaways:
- Arshad Khanani, MD, MA, FASRS, has been appointed as chief medical advisor of Opthea.
- Opthea is developing sozinibercept for the treatment of wet age-related macular degeneration.
Arshad M. Khanani, MD, MA, FASRS, a renowned retina specialist and clinical researcher, has been appointed as chief medical advisor of Opthea Limited, according to a press release.
“I am fully committed to advancing the field and enhancing patient outcomes. This opportunity with Opthea marks a significant milestone in pursuing that objective,” Khanani, who holds positions as a managing partner, director of clinical research and fellowship director at Sierra Eye Associates, told Healio.
In his new role, Khanani, who is also an associate professor at the University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine, will contribute to the advancement of sozinibercept, an innovative VEGF-C/D “trap” inhibitor tailored for the treatment of wet age-related macular degeneration.
“We have the opportunity to redefine the standard of care in wet AMD by making the combination approach of an anti-VEGF-A and an anti-VEGF-C and -D, which is sozinibercept, the standard of care for first-line treatment of wet AMD patients, so it’s actually a big undertaking,” Frédéric Guerard, PharmD, CEO of Opthea, told Healio.
“Very interestingly, the phase 2b trial that was conducted with sozinibercept demonstrated statistically significant superiority of sozinibercept on vision in combination as opposed to standard of care alone. And vision is really what patients care about,” Guerard said. “That’s one of the tasks we have ahead of us: to redefine success based on vision. We are delighted to have Dr. Khanani on board to help us do that.”
Khanani has served as a consultant and investigator for the sozinibercept program for more than 5 years, and he will fulfill his consultancy as chief medical advisor while continuing his other established roles.
“Sozinibercept is the only molecule that is in late-stage development where we are trying to get better vision outcomes for our patients with neovascular AMD,” Khanani said. “I am always involved with novel therapies, and it’s exciting to help Opthea with the development of sozinibercept.”
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