Precision Ophthalmic Delivery

Alex McKeown joined Apellis Pharmaceuticals in September of 2020 in the Ophthalmology Research group, where he now leads the drug discovery and translational development at efforts. Alex earned his PhD in Vision Science from the University of Alabama at Birmingham in 2014 where he studied mechanisms of photoreceptor adaptation and degeneration. He then completed a Postdoc in adaptive optics ophthalmic imaging while pursuing an MBA. He has worked with various reading centers and in R&D with Heidelberg Engineering. In addition to his drug discovery/delivery efforts, he remains passionate about advancing disease understanding through ophthalmic imaging.

Jaymin Shah is a Senior Research Fellow in Pharmaceutical Sciences and heads a global biopharmaceutics group in Pfizer R & D. He also holds an adjunct faculty appointment at the University of Houston and University of Connecticut. He obtained his PhD in Pharmaceutics from University of Houston. From 1988-1999 he served as Associate Professor (Tenured) of Pharmaceutical Sciences at Medical University of South Carolina, where he led a lab developing sustained release parenteral delivery systems and modeling of skin transport and mentored 7 PhD and 2 MS graduates. Jaymin joined Pfizer in 1999 where he has led formulation groups and project teams supporting development of various candidates as parenteral/ophthalmic dosage forms, peptide and oligonucleotides development and research initiatives in parenteral and ophthalmic delivery including LAI, depots, sterile suspensions, implants, and nanoparticles. Jaymin has been recognized with achievement awards for leadership and innovation in Pfizer. Jaymin has published 70 papers, 10 patents/patent applications, 75 abstracts and made more than 114 presentations at various scientific forums such as Arden House Conference, AAPS symposia, CRS, FDA and academic centers. His current research interests include PBPK modeling and in vitro translational studies to predict biopharmaceutics risk for drug candidates, topical drug delivery, parenteral sustained release (depot), nanoparticles, ophthalmic delivery, and topical formulation development. Currently he leads a global biopharmaceutics group providing biopharma risk assessment and strategy for biopharmaceutical aspects for drug development using in vitro performance and PBPK modeling.

  

Cindy W Wu, PhD, is a Director in Drug Delivery and Biomaterials at Abbvie Inc. During her 10 plus year tenure with Abbvie (previously Allergan), Dr Wu has specialized in developing biological delivery products for therapeutic areas including eye care, urology, and medical aesthetics. Currently, she is leading the research and development of biologics delivery platforms and driving the translation of technologies to create innovative products. Dr Wu also acts as the CMC team lead to advance research projects to development. Before joining Abbvie, Dr Wu was a Senior Scientist in Drug Delivery at Amgen, where she was responsible for developing pharmaceutical products based on parenteral and local controlled release technology. Dr Wu earned her PhD in Chemical Engineering from Northwestern University and has authored more than 20 research papers, book chapters, and patents.