Gainesville, Fla., USA - July 1, 2014, Gainesville, Fla., USA - Applied Genetic Technologies Corporation, a clinical stage biotechnology company, appointed David R. Guyer and Ivana Magovcevic-Liebisch to the company's board of directors.
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Dr. Guyer is Co-Founder, Chief Executive Officer, and Chairman of the Board of Ophthotech Corporation. Under his leadership, Ophthotech has successfully completed several rounds of private and public financing and entered into an ex-US licensing and commercialization deal for Fovista with Novartis that is one of the largest ex-US partnering transactions in the biotechnology industry.
Previously, Dr. Guyer co-founded and served as CEO and Director at Eyetech Pharmaceuticals, Inc., where he oversaw the rapid development and successful commercialization of Macugen (pegaptanib sodium), the first FDA-approved anti-VEGF pharmacological treatment for wet AMD. Dr. Guyer also was a venture capitalist and Partner at SV Life Sciences and has served on multiple Boards of both public and private companies.
Dr. Guyer received his BS from Yale College summa cum laude and his MD from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He completed his ophthalmology residency at the Wilmer Ophthalmological Institute at Johns Hopkins Hospital and a retinal fellowship at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary at Harvard Medical School.
As Senior Vice President, Head of Global Business Development for Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd since April 2013, Dr. Magovcevic-Liebisch is responsible for the execution of transactions identified by Teva's R&D, Global Franchises and US Specialty teams, including the licensing and/or acquisition of commercial products, drug candidates and technologies.
Prior to Teva, Dr. Magovcevic-Liebisch served as an executive officer of Dyax Corp. During her twelve-year tenure, she held several senior positions within the company, most recently serving as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer. At Dyax, she oversaw successful commercialization of Kalbiter (ecalantide), the first subcutaneous treatment approved in the U.S. for treatment of acute attacks of hereditary angioedema, a life threatening orphan disease.
Dr. Magovcevic-Liebisch was also instrumental in establishing Dyax's licensing and funded research programs (LFRP) based on its proprietary phase display technology, which has been successfully licensed to over 75 licenses and collaborators and has generated numerous clinical stage candidates and two approved products.
Prior to Dyax, Dr. Magovcevic-Liebisch was Director of Intellectual Property and Patent Counsel for Transkaryotic Therapies, Inc., Cambridge, MA. She received her JD from Suffolk University Law School and her PhD in genetics from Harvard University. ■