Clearside Biomedical Appoints Accomplished Pharmaceutical Industry Legal Executive, Leslie Zacks, as General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer

ALPHARETTA, Ga., Sept. 11, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Clearside Biomedical, Inc. CLSD, a biopharmaceutical company dedicated to developing treatments that restore and preserve vision for people with serious eye diseases, today announced the appointment of Leslie Zacks as General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer.

In a distinguished legal career spanning more than 24 years, Mr. Zacks most recently served as Vice President, General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer at Arbor Pharmaceuticals, Inc., where he provided strategic counsel on legal, intellectual property and compliance issues.  Prior to joining Arbor, Mr. Zacks was Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer at Shionogi Pharma, Inc. from 2004 to 2010.  From 2002 to 2004, he worked at Hunton & Williams, LLP, where he was a partner in the Intellectual Property Litigation department.  Mr. Zacks is a registered patent attorney who has held associate positions at Powell, Goldstein, Frazer & Murphy, LLP and at Webb, Carlock, Copeland, Semler and Stair, LLP.  Mr. Zacks holds a J.D. and a B.A. in English from the University of Florida.

"I am very pleased to welcome Leslie as a member of our executive team," said Clearside's Chief Executive Officer and President, Daniel H. White.  "His appointment comes at a particularly important time, as we prepare to submit our first NDA before the end of this year and continue to advance our late-stage pipeline.  Leslie's expertise in navigating the legal and regulatory requirements for the development and commercialization of new products, combined with his established record for developing effective strategies that mitigate risk and enhance business value, will be a tremendous asset for us going forward as we continue to plan Clearside's transition from a clinical-stage to a commercial-stage company."

About Clearside

Clearside Biomedical, Inc. is a biopharmaceutical company dedicated to developing treatments that restore and preserve vision for people with serious eye diseases.  Clearside's proprietary suprachoroidal treatment approach offers unprecedented access to the back of the eye where sight-threatening disease often occurs.  The company's unique platform for eye disease treatments is inherently flexible and intended to work with established medicines, new formulations of medicines, as well as future innovations.  Clearside's pipeline includes advanced and pre-clinical product candidates in diseases where macular edema is a common complication, including uveitis, retinal vein occlusion ("RVO") and diabetic macular edema ("DME").  Clearside's most advanced program is in non-infectious uveitis and it expects to submit a New Drug Application to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for use of suprachoroidal CLS-TA for the treatment of macular edema associated with non-infectious uveitis by the end of 2018.  The company is also conducting two ongoing Phase 3 trials of suprachoroidal CLS-TA with an intravitreal anti-VEGF agent in patients with RVO.  In addition, Clearside recently announced positive topline results from a Phase 2 clinical trial of suprachoroidal CLS-TA used with EYLEA® (aflibercept) in patients with DME, and is continuing to analyze additional data from the trial as it becomes available.  Clearside is headquartered in Alpharetta, GA.  For more information, please visit http://www.clearsidebio.com.  Follow @clearsidebio on Twitter and Linkedin.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

Any statements contained in this press release that do not describe historical facts may constitute forward-looking statements as that term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.  These statements may be identified by words such as "believe", "expect", "may", "plan", "potential", "will", and similar expressions, and are based on Clearside's current beliefs and expectations. These forward-looking statements include expectations regarding the clinical development of Clearside's product candidates, the timing of a potential submission of an NDA with the FDA, and the potential commercialization of CLS-TA and transition from a clinical-stage to commercial-stage company. These statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those reflected in such statements. Risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially include uncertainties inherent in the conduct of clinical trials, Clearside's reliance on third parties over which it may not always have full control, and other risks and uncertainties that are described in Clearside's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2017, filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") on March 16, 2018, and Clearside's other Periodic Reports filed with the SEC.  Any forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this press release and are based on information available to Clearside as of the date of this release, and Clearside assumes no obligation to, and does not intend to, update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Contacts:

Stephen Kilmer
Investor Relations
(678) 430-8206
stephen.kilmer@clearsidebio.com

Charles Deignan
Chief Financial Officer
(678) 270-4005
charlie.deignan@clearsidebio.com