Our Experience

Charles O'Neill
Executive Director

Dr. O'Neill serves as a member of the Executive Board and provides consulting on many aspects of vision science with a specific focus on the drug development efficiency for nonclinical and clinical drug candidates.  Dr. O’Neill has 30 years of biotechnology and pharmaceutical development experience.  Currently, he is a Co-Founder, Chief Executive Officer and Board Chair at MCAL Therapeutics, Inc. that is developing a novel evaporative dry eye therapy. From 2004 to 2023 Dr. O’Neill was Vice President of nonclinical development at BioMarin Pharmaceutical Inc., during that tenure he contributed to 10 marketed approvals across multiple molecular platforms and indications.  From 1995 to 2004, Dr. O’Neill progressed in both scientific and management roles at Genentech, Inc., part of the Roche Group, and led nonclinical development of LucentisTM, a treatment for the neovascular form of age-related macular degeneration. Dr. O’Neill was a Co-Founder of SARcode BioSciences, Inc. that developed the inflammatory dry eye treatment XiidraTM.  SARcode was acquired in 2014 by Shire Pharmaceutical Inc.  XiidraTM is currently marketed by Bausch+Lomb.  Dr. O’Neill has contributed to over 70 regulatory submissions worldwide, including 19 marketed approvals, and has coauthored over 80 peer-reviewed publications.  Dr. O’Neill has been a Diplomate of the American Board of Toxicology since 1995. 


From experience I have learned that developing therapeutics is never a straight line and includes inevitable and unforeseen challenges. These situations are best navigated with a capable, experienced, and dependable partner. OSOD has a long history of contributing to development programs, with demonstrated success. The OSOD approach puts the patient first and foremost, in delivering safe and effective transformative therapeutics based on translatable nonclinical pharmacology and toxicology data. We assist in delivering this high-quality product in the most time and cost-efficient manner to improve the lives of patients as quickly as possible.

Vision Science

Our academic experts have deep knowledge and investigative experience in vision science that can be applied to your development program. 

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Technical Expertise

Our technical experts understand the species-related and logistical factors critical to acquiring high quality ophthalmic data.  We have worked with all relevant lab species and can advise on optimal study design and planning.

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Regulatory and Development Advice

OSOD industry members have extensive experience developing drugs and devices, including the successful approval of ocular therapies. We can advise on early asset evaluation, preclinical POC, PK and safety, as well as clinical testing strategy.

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