22 September 2021 - - US-based ophthalmic pharmaceutical company Aerie Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: AERI) is executing its succession plan for its long-serving chairman and CEO and that effective September 17, 2021, vicente Anido, PhD. no longer serves as the company's chairman and chief executive officer or as a director of the company, the company said.

Consistent with the succession plan in place, the company's board of directors has appointed Benjamin F. McGraw, III, Pharm.D. as its Interim Executive chairman of the board of directors of the company and commenced a search for a new chief executive officer.

Upon the appointment of a new chief executive officer, the company intends to separate the roles of chairman and chief executive officer.

Aerie Pharmaceuticals is an ophthalmic pharmaceutical company focused on the discovery, development, and commercialization of first-in-class therapies for the treatment of patients with open-angle glaucoma, ocular surface diseases and retinal diseases.

Aerie's first product, Rhopressa (netarsudil ophthalmic solution) 0.02%, a once-daily eye drop approved by the US Food and Drug Administration for the reduction of elevated intraocular pressure in patients with open-angle glaucoma or ocular hypertension, was launched in the United States in April 2018.

In clinical trials of Rhopressa, the most common adverse reactions were conjunctival hyperemia, corneal verticillata, instillation site pain, and conjunctival hemorrhage.

Aerie's second product for the reduction of elevated IOP in patients with open-angle glaucoma or ocular hypertension, Rocklatan (netarsudil and latanoprost ophthalmic solution) 0.02%/0.005%, the first and only fixed-dose combination of Rhopressa and the widely-prescribed PGA (prostaglandin analog) latanoprost, was launched in the United States in May 2019.

In clinical trials of Rocklatan, the most common adverse reactions were conjunctival hyperemia, corneal verticillata, instillation site pain, and conjunctival hemorrhage.

Aerie said it continues to focus on global expansion and the development of additional product candidates and technologies in ophthalmology, including for the treatment of dry eye disease, wet age-related macular degeneration and diabetic macular edema.