Vicken Karageozian, MD
CEO and President
Dr. Karageozian is an industry veteran in drug development with more than 25 years of experience building, leading, and fundraising companies in the pharmaceutical space. An ophthalmic surgeon by training, Dr. Karageozian is the co-founder of three ophthalmic biotech companies, including ISTA Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Vitreoretinal Technologies, Inc., and Allegro Ophthalmics, LLC. He has been the inventor or co-inventor of numerous pharmaceuticals with more than 89 patents issued on his drug discoveries. His co-inventions include some of the first enzymatic, osmotic, mitochondrial stabilizing, and neurosalvage based treatments for the eye and some of the earliest work in intravitreal injections. Dr. Karageozian has been instrumental in securing over $300M in aggregate venture and institutional capital and corporate partnerships for these companies.
Dr. Karageozian has led the business execution, clinical development, and regulatory strategy on numerous pharmaceuticals, including several negotiated novel endpoints for first in class drugs, and has led numerous Phase 1, 2, and 3 clinical programs across the US, EU, Asia, and Latin America.
Dr. Karageozian has extensive experience in formulating and leading the corporate strategy, execution, fundraising, and business development efforts. Throughout his ventures, Dr. Karageozian has led numerous successful licensing transactions, partnerships, mergers and acquisitions and IPOs across the US, Asia, and Latin America.
Dr. Karageozian graduated from the University of California, San Diego with degrees in biochemistry and cellular biology and received his medical degree from Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston. After completing an internship at UCLA, he completed his ophthalmology residency at the University of California, Irvine.