Medical device company TearScience has hired a former Allergan (NYSE:AGN) executive to spearhead European commercialization efforts for its novel dry eye treatment.
Deithart Reichardt is now senior vice president of the European region for Morrisville, North Carolina-based dry eye treatment company TearScience. Reichardt will oversee sales, marketing, operations and customer service for the company in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
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Between 20 million and 30 million Americans suffer from dry eyes, according to market research from CBDM.T. The firm projects that the dry eye market will reach $2.4 billion by 2014. But dry eye products on the market consist mainly of drugs and eye drops. TearScience has developed medical devices to address the condition.
Dry eyes can be caused by the failure of the eye to produce enough tears. But TearScience says that of the more than 100 million dry eye sufferers worldwide, about 65 percent of them have evaporative dry eye, a condition in which the tears that are produced evaporate and leave the eyes dry. Evaporation is prevented naturally by an oily film released by glands in the eyelids. But when channels releasing those oils are clogged, evaporative dry eye can result.
TearScience in 2009 received U.S. Food and Drug Administration 510(k) clearance on LipiView, a device to diagnose evaporative dry eye. In June, TearScience received FDA clearance on LipiFlow, a device that treats the condition with a combination of heat and pressure to the eyelid. The company has already received marketing certification for the devices in Europe.
Reichardt spent more than 20 years at Allergan where he held a number of management and executive positions. Reichardt was most recently director of global business development for London-based contact lens products company Sauflon Pharmaceuticals. There Reichardt re-launched the company’s business in central Europe and developed market entry strategies for the United States and Japan.
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“Given his extensive knowledge of the European eye care industry, Diethart is the perfect fit for establishing and managing TearScience’s growth in Europe,” Tim Willis, chief executive officer and co-founder of TearScience said in a statement.
TearScience, founded in 2005, has raised more than $70 million in venture capital from Essex Woodlands Health Ventures, Investor Growth Capital, General Catalyst, De Novo Ventures, Spray Ventures and Quaker BioVentures.
