NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Ophthotech Corporation (NASDAQ: OPHT) announced today the election of Jane Pritchett Henderson, Chief Financial Officer and Senior Vice President of Corporate Development at Voyager Therapeutics, to its Board of Directors, effective immediately. Ms. Henderson has also been elected the Chair of the Ophthotech Audit Committee.

“We are excited to have someone of Jane’s caliber join our Board of Directors,” stated David R. Guyer, Executive Chairman of Ophthotech. “Jane’s financial background and corporate development experience in life sciences is a valuable addition to the Ophthotech board as we seek to expand our strategic vision for the Company with our complement C5 inhibitor, Zimura®, and continue our business development effort for both orphan diseases and larger indications in the back of the eye, such as age-related retinal diseases.”

“The management team at Ophthotech continues to execute on its strategic plan and has made significant progress in restructuring the Company, initiating and modifying multiple clinical trials of Zimura® and continuing an aggressive business development outreach with the goal of broadening and advancing its ophthalmic pipeline,” stated Ms. Henderson. “I am thrilled to be joining the board at this important time and look forward to working closely with David Guyer, Glenn Sblendorio, other board members and the management team.”

Jane Pritchett Henderson has more than 29 years of experience in the life sciences industry and health care investment banking. She currently serves as Chief Financial Officer and Senior Vice President of Corporate Development at Voyager Therapeutics, a publicly-traded, clinical-stage gene therapy company focused on developing life-changing treatments for severe neurological diseases. Prior to Voyager, Ms. Henderson served as Chief Financial and Business Officer of Kolltan Pharmaceuticals, Inc., having joined the privately held biopharmaceutical company in 2013 and leading the sale of Kolltan to Celldex Pharmaceuticals, Inc. in late 2016. Previously, Ms. Henderson served as Vice President, Business Development of ISTA Pharmaceuticals, Inc., until ISTA Pharmaceuticals was acquired by Bausch + Lomb. Prior to ISTA Pharmaceuticals, Ms. Henderson served as Chief Financial Officer and Head of Business Development at Axerion Pharmaceuticals, Inc., and as Chief Financial Officer and Chief Business Officer of Panacos Pharmaceuticals, Inc. In addition to her industry experience, Ms. Henderson’s extensive healthcare investment banking experience includes the execution of more than 95 mergers and acquisitions, advisory and financing deals as managing director and other senior roles at HSBC Holdings plc, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, Lehman Brothers and Salomon Brothers. Ms. Henderson holds a B.S. in psychology from Duke University and currently serves on the board of directors of Eleven Biotherapeutics, Inc., a publicly-traded biologics oncology company.

“We welcome Jane to our Board of Directors,” stated Glenn P. Sblendorio, Chief Executive Officer and President of Ophthotech. “We believe Jane’s extensive experience within the biotechnology industry will provide great insight and guidance as we continue to build this new chapter of Ophthotech.”

About Ophthotech Corporation

Ophthotech is a biopharmaceutical company specializing in the development of novel therapeutics for age-related and orphan diseases of the eye. For more information, please visit www.ophthotech.com.