Michele Larussa

Biography

Ms. LaRussa has served as our Senior Vice President, Regulatory Affairs and Quality Assurance since October 2016. Prior to joining us, Ms. LaRussa served as Global Head of Regulatory Affairs, Dermatology at GlaxoSmithKline plc from July 2012 to September 2016, where she led a crossfunctional, multi-national team to develop new chemical entities and integrate groups and technologies from a recent acquisition into GlaxoSmithKline’s existing structure, and at Allergan from September 2007 to June 2012, where she led the review and approval procedures for three new chemical entities. Ms. LaRussa spent much of her career with Novartis (including CIBA Vision Ophthalmics, Inc, Novartis Ophthalmics AG, and Novartis AG) with increasing levels of responsibility in regulatory affairs from October 1994 to July 2007, including leading the Regulatory Affairs Dermatology Department, holding lead responsibility for BOTOX, Latisse and Aczone and submitting and gaining approval for an additional indication for BOTOX. Ms. LaRussa received a B.S. in Chemistry from the University of South Florida. 

Research Interest

Kala Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Kala) is a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of therapeutics using our proprietary nanoparticle-based Mucus Penetrating Particles, or MPP, technology, with an initial focus on the treatment of eye diseases.