What first attracted you to Novaliq, and what keeps you motivated over the years?
At Novaliq, we research and develop water-free eye drops—a unique and, at first glance, almost counterintuitive innovation. When I first learned about Novaliq in 2016, I was immediately intrigued. It raised a fundamental question: why, after thousands of years, are almost all eye drops still based on water or oil, despite the eye’s outer tear film being primarily lipid-based?
The history of eye drops stretches back over 3,500 years to ancient Egypt. While effective to a degree, traditional water- or oil-based formulations come with major limitations: blurred vision, low drug bioavailability, discomfort, and short residence time on the ocular surface. In fact, only about 1–10% of a topically applied drug typically reaches the target tissue. This is among the lowest drug delivery efficiencies known in medicine.
Now imagine someone inventing a clear, water-free liquid that looks and feels like water but behaves very differently. It adheres to the ocular surface for hours instead of minutes, dramatically increases drug bioavailability, and provides outstanding comfort even in severely irritated eyes. That is exactly what Novaliq achieved with its EyeSol® technology—a platform that redefines what eye drops can do.
EyeSol doesn’t just improve existing therapies; it creates an entirely new category of topical treatments. It’s perhaps not magic, but it certainly is transformational in eye care.
When I joined Novaliq, I felt an immediate connection to the mission. I became “infected” by the possibilities EyeSol presented—not just to treat dry eye disease but to revolutionize multiple ophthalmic indications, and perhaps even other therapeutic fields like dermatology.
Eight years later, that passion remains just as strong. Every day, our team at Novaliq is united by the belief that we have the capability—and the responsibility—to address unmet medical needs and improve patients’ lives through innovation.
Two drugs approved within a month by a 25-person team. Tell us how you did it.
It’s rare, perhaps unprecedented, for a small biotech company to achieve what we did, especially in eye care. Back when we started, many external advisors suggested we should focus our limited resources on developing a single therapy. Conventional wisdom said it was too risky, too complicated, and unlikely to succeed.
But dry eye disease is highly complex and multifactorial. No single treatment can address all aspects of the disease for every patient. So we asked different questions: How can we maximize a drug’s potential using our water-free technology? Can we rethink drug delivery to improve outcomes?
These questions led to two parallel development programs:
- CyclASol®, which focused on improving bioavailability and therapeutic effect using cyclosporine.
- NOV03, designed to address Meibomian gland dysfunction and excessive tear evaporation, an often-overlooked cause of dry eye.
CyclASol culminated in the approvals of Vevye™ in the U.S. and Vevizye™ in Europe—a true best-in-class therapy. Meanwhile, NOV03, branded as Miebo™ by our partners at Bausch + Lomb, became the first FDA-approved drug specifically for evaporative dry eye.
Miebo has been a true breakthrough: over 1 million units sold since launch, and consistent feedback from clinicians that “nothing works like Miebo.”
Our success came from a few core principles: trust in science, commitment to the patient, courage to take risks, and a refusal to be boxed in by conventional thinking.
What were the biggest challenges in developing and validating EyeSol®?
When you’re building a novel platform like EyeSol, there’s no handbook. You’re starting almost from scratch. Every step—from early toxicology to manufacturing processes—has to be invented, validated, and defended to regulators.
Our first priority, always, was safety. Long before I joined Novaliq, the company had made patient safety its guiding principle. Thankfully, EyeSol has proven to be not only safe but exceptionally well-tolerated across all studies.
Being based on a new chemical entity, EyeSol required extensive non-clinical and clinical investigation. But we also saw an opportunity: why simply copy the usual clinical trial designs if you’re introducing a fundamentally new technology?
We added exploratory endpoints, patient-reported outcomes, and responder analyses—none were required for approval but critical to truly understand the clinical impact. These insights helped us appreciate the full power of EyeSol and prepared us for future innovations.
Ultimately, the biggest challenge was to think differently at every step. Standard approaches wouldn’t have allowed us to disrupt the ocular treatment landscape.
CyclASol® vs. Restasis™: What’s the real patient impact?
CyclASol is VEVYE® (cyclosporine ophthalmic solution 0.1%),the first and only FDA-approved cyclosporine treatment for both signs and symptoms of dry eye disease. That distinction matters. Previous approvals focused only on tear production and had significant limitations: delayed onset of effect (typically 3–6 months) and significant eye irritation.
VEVYE, based on EyeSol, changes the game:
- Bioavailability: Much higher drug delivery to the ocular surface, without all the limitations of water-based carriers.
- Rapid onset: Clinically meaningful improvements by Day 15.
- Outstanding tolerability: 99.8% of patients reported no or only mild irritation.
In our Phase 2 head-to-head trial, CyclASol showed statistically significant superiority over Restasis at just 2 and 4 weeks—a remarkable achievement. Clinical effects maintained over one year with further improvements on signs and symptoms.
Moreover, we saw this consistency across multiple studies and geographies, including the U.S. and China, something rare in dry eye trials.
Patients not only improved but continued to improve with longer-term treatment—over one year we observed further clinical meaningful improvements on signs and asymptotes.
What drives you?
Three things: passion, purpose, and people. Always in that order. Passion ignites innovation. Purpose gives work meaning. People make everything possible.
How did your time at Abbott, Alcon, and Bausch + Lomb shape how you lead at Novaliq?
Those experiences were invaluable. I learned that influence is more powerful than authority—true leadership comes from inspiring others, not commanding them.
Culture and purpose must be deeply intertwined. At Novaliq, we intentionally cultivate a culture where everyone feels ownership of the mission.
In biotech, there’s no safety net. Failure of a key project can end the company. That reality forces you to balance boldness with caution, creativity with rigor. You must trust your people, listen deeply, and lead by example—pushing yourself harder than anyone else.
Biotech success is never linear. There are setbacks and external pressures. How you navigate uncertainty determines your fate. Calm, resilient leadership is critical.
And at the end of the day: you must love to win.
How do you balance entrepreneurial spirit with operational rigor at Novaliq?
Entrepreneurship is about curiosity and the willingness to challenge the status quo. Operational rigor ensures ideas turn into tangible results.
My scientific background as a chemist shapes how I approach problems: I break them down into their components, understand the relationships, and rebuild solutions systematically.
At Novaliq, we recognized early that our core strengths lie in drug design, regulatory strategy, and manufacturing. We chose not to build an in-house commercial organization but instead partnered with the best—like Bausch + Lomb, Harrow, Hengrui, Laboratoires Théa —to bring our products to patients.
This focus enables us to remain nimble, innovative, and scientifically driven, while ensuring our innovations achieve the widest possible impact.
Who or what shaped you?
I’ve been shaped more by people than events. Several mentors believed in me, often throwing me into “ice-cold waters”—assignments I felt unready for. It was a “sink or swim” approach, but they were always quietly there to make sure I didn’t drown.
These experiences taught me the value of trust, resilience, and self-belief. Passion and collaboration opened doors I never imagined.
Setbacks taught me just as much. Success can build confidence; failure builds character.
What excites you about Novaliq’s next phase?
We are at a turning point. Our success in dry eye disease was just the beginning. Now, we must transform our business model to sustain long-term growth.
Our foundation—EyeSol—is strong. But we must venture into new scientific territories and therapeutic areas. For example, we’re exploring innovations that could reduce the burden of intravitreal injections—offering new hope for millions of patients with retinal diseases.
We’re also expanding across multiple therapeutic pathways simultaneously, enabled by spinouts and dedicated teams. This parallel, multi-pronged growth will accelerate our innovation cycle dramatically.
Transformation is never easy, but it’s essential. And it’s incredibly exciting.
Five years from now, what impact do you hope Novaliq will have made?
Healthcare will evolve rapidly over the next decade. AI, robotics, real-time data integration—these are not futuristic concepts; they are near-term realities.
I hope Novaliq’s legacy will be that we continuously brought meaningful, tangible value to patients. Not only through EyeSol-based therapies but also through innovations beyond traditional eye drops.
Imagine: eye drops that don’t require awkward neck bending; “smart” bottles that connect to your smartphone, reminding patients to take medication, collecting adherence data, and enabling real-time treatment optimization through AI-assisted algorithms.
This is not science fiction. It is achievable within five years.
The future of eye care will belong to those who dare to imagine—and deliver—new possibilities. At Novaliq, we are committed to making that future a reality.