Theialife Appoints Thomas Ruggia as President and Chief Executive Officer to Advance Phase-3 Ready Oral Myopia Therapy and Scale Ophthalmology Platform

DOVER, Del., April 23, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Theialife, a late-stage clinical company advancing innovative therapeutic solutions for ocular diseases, today announced the appointment of Thomas Ruggia as President and Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Ruggia, based in New Jersey, will lead development, operational and corporate strategy as the Company prepares for anticipated milestones including the planned initiation of Phase 3 development for Thealife’s lead candidate, ND10. The company’s co-founder, Sundeep Aurora, will continue to oversee scientific research and development and will serve as Chairman.

Ruggia brings more than 25 years of leadership experience across ophthalmology, pharmaceutical, medical devices and consumer healthcare. He has held senior roles at global organizations including Johnson & Johnson, Alcon, and Novartis. Ruggia has deep expertise in advancing innovative ophthalmic drugs and devices from development through regulatory approval and commercialization across international markets, along with a demonstrated track record of scaling ophthalmology companies through financing, global launches and reimbursement execution. He joins Theialife from Samsara Vision, a privately-held, commercial-stage ophthalmic device company where he served as CEO since 2020.

“We are approaching a critical inflection point as we prepare to initiate Phase 3 development of ND10 in myopia and we believe that Tom’s deep expertise in ophthalmology makes him ideally suited to lead the next phase of our corporate and clinical evolution,” said Sundeep Aurora, Co-founder of Theialife. “He has demonstrated an ability to lead through late-stage development, regulatory milestones and commercial launches, while simultaneously scaling organizations and securing the capital necessary to support these efforts. With ND10, we have a first-in-class oral therapy with the potential to address one of the largest unmet needs in ophthalmology, and we are thrilled to have Tom join us to lead its continued advancement.”

“Theialife’s rigorous science and innovative ophthalmology platform has the potential to deliver desperately needed solutions for patients and transform the standard of care for a number of ocular diseases,” said Thomas Ruggia, Chief Executive Officer of Theialife. “It is an honor to lead the company at this key juncture as we prepare to enter Phase 3 development. ND10 is meaningfully de-risked through a combination of compelling clinical data as well as two decades of real-world evidence in a compassionate use setting in Denmark with over 1,200 children treated, with highly encouraging results to date. Theialife’s differentiated oral therapy for pediatric myopia has the potential to represent a novel approach to addressing the growing burden of pediatric myopia. I look forward to working with our team and expert scientific advisors to advance this important program and other assets in our pipeline.”

Most recently, as CEO of Samsara Vision, Mr. Ruggia led the development and global commercialization of the Smaller Incision, New Generation Implantable Miniature Telescope (SING IMT) for patients with late-stage macular degeneration, securing regulatory approvals and premium reimbursement pathways worldwide, while successfully designing and enrolling clinical trials in both the United States and Europe.

Before joining Samsara Vision, Mr. Ruggia spent five years at Johnson & Johnson, working across both Johnson & Johnson Vision and The Janssen Pharma Co of Johnson & Johnson. He supervised two international commercial organizations of more than 500 employees across America, Europe and Asia. Ruggia led the commercial strategy for PALUCORCEL, an investigational cell therapy for age-related macular degeneration, leading regions for launch plan development, including the first-commercial launch in Japan. Mr. Ruggia played a key role as the commercial lead in the acquisition of Abbott Medical Optics subsidiary from Abbott.

Prior to Johnson & Johnson, Mr. Ruggia spent fifteen years at Alcon, in a variety of sales and marketing roles across North America and Asia-Pacific, including directing the strategic portfolio for the Asia-Pacific region. His tenure culminated in his role as Country Business Head of Vision Care, where he was responsible for sales and marketing for a $100M business unit. He holds a Bachelor of Science from The College of New Jersey in 1998.

About ND10
ND10 (7-Methylxanthine), is a first-in-class adenosine A2A receptor antagonist being developed to slow pediatric myopia progression. The oral therapy enhances dopamine activity and strengthens collagen in the posterior sclera to stabilize eye structure and reduce ocular elongation. ND10 is supported by data generated over more than 20 years of compassionate-use and investigator-led trials in Denmark where it has been used in more than 1,200 children demonstrating encouraging clinical potential and a favorable safety profile.

About Theialife: 
Theialife is a global ophthalmology drug development company focused on advancing first-in-class therapies that aim to address major unmet needs in eye diseases. The Company’s lead asset, ND10 (7-Methylxanthine), is an oral therapy designed to slow pediatric myopia progression for which Phase 3 clinical trial planning is currently underway. Theialife is building a pipeline of differentiated ophthalmic programs targeting indications that include dry eye disease, wet age-related macular degeneration, and corneal blindness. Thealife’s mission is to develop transformative therapies to address significant unmet needs of vision care worldwide. For more information, please visit https://www.theialife.com/ and follow Theialife on LinkedIn.

Media Contact for Theialife
Raena Mina, Ph.D.
Burns McClellan
rmina@burnsmc.com

Investor Relations Contacts for Theialife
Caroline Hubbard/ Lee Roth
Burns McClellan
Chubbard@burnsmc.com / lroth@burnsmc.com

Legal Disclaimer:

EIN Presswire provides this news content "as is" without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the author above.