Samsara Vision Promotes Jason Herod to Chief Commercial Officer

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FAR HILLS, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Samsara Vision today announced that Jason Herod, Vice President Commercial, International Markets, is promoted to Chief Commercial Officer, effective August 15, 2024. Samsara Vision is a privately held specialty medical device company focused on intraocular ophthalmic devices that are intended to significantly improve vision and quality of life for individuals with untreatable retinal disorders.

Jason Herod joined Samsara Vision in August 2021 and brings over 24 years of ophthalmic medical device, pharmaceutical, and OTC business experience. Now based in Geneva, Switzerland, Jason has lived and worked in Canada, the United States, and Czech Republic, holding many roles of increasing responsibility in sales, sales management, country, regional and global marketing, country general management, and as the Franchise Head for Europe, Middle East, Africa, Russia for Alcon.

In his role as Chief Commercial Officer, Jason will continue to support the European rollout of the SING IMT® (Smaller-Incision New-Generation Implantable Miniature Telescope), Samsara Vision’s flagship, intraocular telescope (IOT) for older adults living with late-stage, age-related macular degeneration (AMD). He will also work closely with other members of the company’s C-suite to advance availability of the SING IMT in other global markets and provide oversight for the company’s ongoing U.S. clinical trial.

“When Jason joined Samsara Vision three years ago after spending much of his career focused on eye health with Alcon and Allergan, I was immediately impressed by his strategic acumen and team building ability. His leadership contributed to our success earning a CE Mark and launching the SING IMT in 17 EU countries to date,” said Thomas Ruggia, President and CEO of Samara Vision. “I look forward to working with Jason even more closely as the Chief Commercial Officer as we build our business in China, APAC, Australia, and Latin America.”

“I am delighted and grateful to be named the CCO at such an important and exciting moment in our company’s history. Our innovative approach to addressing the so-called 'non-preventable' blindness caused by late-stage AMD has led to more and more stories from patients telling us about how their improved vision helps them to reengage with their families and activities they love following their SING IMT procedure and therapy,” said Jason Herod, Chief Commercial Officer. “I look forward to working with Tom and the rest of the Samsara Vision team to bring our remarkable technology to global markets around the world.”

About the SING IMT®

The SING IMT® is a Galilean intraocular telescope designed to improve visual acuity and quality of life for patients with late-stage AMD. Images seen in “straight-ahead” vision are enlarged 2.7x onto healthy retina surrounding the macular in the back of the eye. This reduces the impact of the AMD “blind spot” in central vision and allows patients to see things that may have been unrecognizable before.

While there are traditional external optical or video magnifiers that can help to enlarge vision at a particular distance or for a single activity, there is nothing like the SING IMT® that allows people to use their new vision for seeing things at all distances, stationary and in locomotion, and for performing multiple activities in ways similar to natural vision.

The SING IMT is approved for use in patients without previous cataract surgery and 55 years and older in CE Referenced countries and is under investigation in the United States.

There is no cure for late-stage AMD and the SING IMT® does not return vision to the level a patient had before AMD, nor will it completely make up for vision loss. Driving is contraindicated with the device. The most common risks of the SING IMT® surgery include inflammatory deposits or precipitates on the device and increased intraocular pressure. Significant adverse events include corneal edema, vision-impairing corneal edema, corneal transplant, and decrease in visual acuity. There is a risk that having the telescope implantation surgery could worsen your vision rather than improve it. Individual results may vary.

About Samsara Vision

Samsara Vision is a privately held specialty medical device company headquartered in the United States and engaged in the research, development, manufacture, and marketing of proprietary implantable ophthalmic devices and technologies that are intended to significantly improve vision and quality of life for individuals with untreatable retinal disorders. We believe that rejuvenating eyesight revives the spirit, allowing people to reconnect to the things in life that they love to see and do. Our approach includes working collaboratively with health care providers, researchers, payers, and advocates to ensure that people living with deteriorating vision have access to our novel technologies and support paths thereby better ensuring a future where they can see anew. Learn more at https://www.samsaravision.com

Safe Harbor Statement

This press release contains express or implied forward-looking statements pursuant to U.S. Federal securities laws. Forward-looking statements include those about the potential benefits to be derived from the SING IMT™ and the intent to work closely with the FDA to determine a timely pathway to bring the SING IMT™ to market in the United States and the belief that rejuvenating eyesight revives the spirit, allowing people to reconnect to the things in life that they love to see and do. These forward-looking statements and their implications are based on the current expectations of the management of Samsara only, and are subject to a number of factors and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements. The following factors, among others, could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements: claims by other companies and persons regarding ownership over intellectual property; changes in technology and market requirements; Samsara may encounter delays or obstacles in launching and/or successfully completing its clinical trials; Samsara’s products may not be approved by regulatory agencies, Samsara’s technology may not be validated as it progresses further and its methods may not be accepted by the scientific community; Samsara may be unable to retain or attract key employees whose knowledge is essential to the development of its products; unforeseen scientific difficulties may develop with Samsara’s process; Samsara’s products may wind up being more expensive than it anticipates; results in the laboratory may not translate to equally good results in real clinical settings; results of preclinical studies may not correlate with the results of human clinical trials; Samsara’s patents may not be sufficient; Samsara’s products may harm recipients; changes in legislation may adversely impact Samsara; inability to timely develop and introduce new technologies, products and applications; the risk factors and uncertainties described in the Registration Statement on Form S-1, as amended (File No. 333-260742) filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission; loss of market share and pressure on pricing resulting from competition, which could cause the actual results or performance of Samsara to differ materially from those contemplated in such forward-looking statements. Except as otherwise required by law, Samsara undertakes no obligation to publicly release any revisions to these forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.

Jessica Daitch
JLD Communications LLC
917-816-6712
jessica@jldcommunications.com

Source: Samsara Vision

Released September 3, 2024