MORRISVILLE, N.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--TearScience®, Inc., a privately-held medical device company, today announced that it has appointed Diethart Reichardt as senior vice president of the European region including Europe, Middle East and Africa. In this role, Reichardt will be responsible for sales, marketing, operations and customer service teams based in the European region as well as a distributor network in Africa and the Middle East. Reichardt will be based in Germany. TearScience’s advanced solutions are designed to help eye care physicians treat patients suffering from evaporative dry eye disease and Meibomian Gland Dysfunction.
Reichardt brings a wealth of sales, marketing and overall management experience to TearScience® having served in leadership positions for several global medical device and pharmaceutical eye care companies. During his greater than 20 year career with Allergan, he built the company’s central European business and served as regional vice president. As a global divisional head and corporate vice president of Allergan, he was responsible for regaining global market leadership in the eye care business he managed. Later, Reichardt was vice president and managing director international for ChromaVision Medical Systems, a medical device company for oncologists. He was also president of Europe for Ocular Sciences, where he built the fastest growing ophthalmic business in its segment in Europe. Most recently, Reichardt was director of global business development for Sauflon Pharmaceuticals, where he re-launched the business in central Europe and focused on market entry strategies for the U.S. and Japan.
“Given his extensive knowledge of the European eye care industry, Diethart is the perfect fit for establishing and managing TearScience’s growth in Europe,” said Tim Willis, chief executive officer and co-founder of TearScience®. “Diethart has a proven track record of success in building hundred-million dollar European businesses. We welcome him to the TearScience® executive team and anticipate excellent results.”
“TearScience’s solution is revolutionary and will cause a complete paradigm shift in how dry eye will be managed and treated over the next few years,” said Diethart Reichardt. “Introducing a new, advanced technology to the European market is exactly the type of challenge I was looking for. I look forward to the opportunities and benefits this presents to patients, physicians and TearScience®.”
In June, 2011, TearScience® received U.S. FDA clearance to market its LipiFlow® Thermal Pulsation medical device in the United States. The company’s LipiFlow® treatment device is designed to address a root cause of evaporative dry eye disease, obstructed meibomian glands, which results in a lipid deficiency of the eye’s natural tear film.
About TearScience®, Inc.
Headquartered in Morrisville, North Carolina, TearScience® has pioneered devices that provide significant clinical improvement in the treatment of evaporative dry eye. Of the more than 100 million dry eye sufferers worldwide, approximately 65 percent have evaporative dry eye, which is often caused by meibomian gland dysfunction (MGD) and a lipid deficiency of the eye’s natural tear film. The Tear Film and Ocular Surface Society (TFOS) workshop, involving two years of work by 50 leading experts from around the world, concluded that MGD is an under-estimated condition and is very likely the most frequent cause of dry eye disease. TearScience’s integrated, in-office system enables eye care professionals to effectively address a root cause of evaporative dry eye, obstructed meibomian glands. For additional information, visit www.TearScience.com.