Management Team
The commercial success of any therapy depends not just on the science but on the people who bring these innovative treatments to market. Our talented, passionate management team holds years of experience in building pharmaceutical companies, designing clinical studies, performing pre-clinical research, and launching and marketing products. We equally value our long-standing relationships with the ophthalmic community and our strong connections with key strategic and financial partners. Collectively, the Allegro team possesses the hard-won knowledge of what it takes to get a product across the finish line, into the hands of physicians, and in patients’ care regimens.
Dr. Karageozian is an industry veteran in ophthalmic drug development with more than 25 years of experience building, leading, and fundraising companies in the ophthalmic pharmaceutical space. An ophthalmic surgeon by training, Dr. Karageozian is the co-founder of three ophthalmic biotech companies since 1993, including ISTA Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Vitreoretinal Technologies, Inc., and Allegro Ophthalmics, LLC. He has been the inventor or co-inventor of numerous ophthalmic pharmaceuticals with more than 82 patents issued on his drug discoveries. His co-inventions include some of the first enzymatic, osmotic, and integrin-based treatments for the eye and some of the earliest work in intravitreal injections (Vitrase®). Dr. Karageozian has been instrumental in securing over $240M in aggregate venture and institutional capital and corporate partnerships for these companies.
Dr. Karageozian has led the business execution, clinical development, and regulatory strategy on numerous ophthalmic pharmaceuticals, including several negotiated novel endpoints for first in class drugs, and has led numerous Phase 1, 2, and 3 ophthalmic clinical programs across the US, EU, Asia, and Latin America.
As a senior executive at Allegro, Dr. Karageozian has extensive experience in formulating and leading the corporate strategy, execution, fundraising, and business development efforts. Throughout his ventures, Dr. Karageozian has led numerous successful licensing transactions, partnerships, mergers and acquisitions and IPOs across the US, Asia, and Latin America. This includes the successful IPO of ISTA Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Dr. Karageozian graduated from the University of California, San Diego with degrees in biochemistry and cellular biology and received his medical degree from Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston. After completing an internship at UCLA, he completed his ophthalmology residency at the University of California, Irvine.
Mr. Karageozian has over 47 years of distinguished service in ophthalmic drug development. During his career, Mr. Karageozian has brought over 30 ophthalmic drugs to market and is an author or co-author of more than 150 worldwide issued patents. Mr. Karageozian is the co-founder and Chief Technical Officer of Allegro Ophthalmics. Previously, Mr. Karageozian was the co-founder and CTO of ISTA Pharmaceuticals, Inc., and served as CEO at Allegro, PrimaPharma, Inc., S K Pharmaceuticals, Inc., and Vitreoretinal Technologies, Inc. He has previously raised numerous rounds of venture capital funding for several of these companies, as well as active involvement in the initial public offering of ISTA Pharmaceuticals.
Prior to co-founding PrimaPharma, Inc., Mr. Karageozian spent 23 years at Allergan Pharmaceuticals, Inc. in senior management positions, including corporate head of research and development. Mr. Karageozian’s extensive experience and expertise spans well beyond research and development to include drug discovery and development, domestic and international regulatory affairs, clinical studies, and API and finished product manufacturing.
Mr. Karageozian received his BSc in Pharmacy from American University of Beirut, his MSc in Biochemistry from MIT, and his MBA from the University of California, Irvine.
Bringing over two decades of accounting and finance experience to Allegro Ophthalmics, Ms. Yee leads the company’s financial and business development functions.
Prior to joining Allegro, Ms. Yee was the Controller for ZO Skin Health, Inc., a dermatology company where she scaled up the accounting and finance organization to support its rapid growth, and of ClaripHy Communications, Inc., where she coordinated a $10M credit facility and facilitated the sale of the company to Inphi Corporation.
Ms. Yee has held several management roles at Emulex Corporation, acquired by Avago Technologies Limited and later merged with Broadcom Corporation. During her tenure, she became the resident SEC reporting expert and managed due diligence and integration for three acquisitions. Prior to Emulex, Ms. Yee worked at IntraLase Corporation where she managed the SEC reporting, tax and international accounting and finance operations. When IntraLase was acquired by Advanced Medical Optics, Inc., Ms. Yee coordinated the integration of IntraLase into AMO, now part of Johnson and Johnson.
Ms. Yee began her career in Vancouver, BC Canada at public accounting firm D&H Group. She earned a Bachelor of Commerce degree with a specialization in Accounting from the University of British Columbia. She holds a CPA designation in Canada and in the state of Illinois.
Dr. Sarayba leads Clinical Affairs to support Allegro’s fast-paced clinical initiatives.
Dr. Sarayba is an ophthalmic surgeon and completed his fellowship training at the University of California, Irvine. Aside from his extensive background in clinical research, he has two decades of product development and commercialization experience. His interests are focused on developing and bringing to market innovative ideas and novel products in ophthalmology.
Dr. Sarayba has worked for multiple successful ophthalmic companies, including IntraLase, AMO, WaveTec, LenSx Lasers, Alcon Laboratories and ClarVista Medical. At these companies, he led efforts on product development, product improvement, and new applications. Dr. Sarayba also designed and led clinical trials at various stages of the life cycle. As the Head of Global Medical Affairs for the Cataract Franchise at Alcon, he was responsible for key strategic clinical initiatives for the company’s entire cataract portfolio.
Dr. Sarayba is a prolific innovator with 10 patents and numerous peer-reviewed publications of which he is an author or co-author.
