Akari Therapeutics Appoints Rachelle Jacques as President and Chief Executive Officer
March 02 2022 - 7:00AM
Akari Therapeutics, Plc (Nasdaq: AKTX), a late-stage
biopharmaceutical company focused on innovative therapeutics
to treat orphan autoimmune and inflammatory diseases where
complement (C5) and/or leukotriene (LBT4) systems are
implicated, today announced the appointment of Rachelle Jacques as
President and Chief Executive Officer of Akari Therapeutics.
Ms. Jacques will also join the company’s Board of Directors.
Her appointment begins at the end of March 2022.
Outgoing Chief Executive Officer, Clive Richardson, will
continue to serve the Company, supporting Rachelle to accelerate
business development and ensuring a smooth transition.“I am very
pleased to be able to welcome Rachelle as CEO of Akari
Therapeutics. She has considerable biotechnology experience
including a proven track record of bringing advanced therapies for
rare diseases to the market,” said Ray Prudo, M.D., Akari
Therapeutics’ founder and Chairman of the company’s Board
of Directors. “With her combined experience in C5 inhibition,
immunology and rare diseases, Rachelle has a deep understanding of
the potential of Akari’s pipeline. This, together with her
strategic experience, affords a springboard to advance our Phase 3
pipeline through potential regulatory approval and towards
commercialization, as well as and bring forward our earlier stage
pipeline. I very much look forward to working with Rachelle who
will be based in the Boston area.”“It’s an exciting time
at Akari and I look forward to building on the robust research
and development work that has already been completed to
advance nomacopan, a unique drug differentiated by its dual mode of
action which has the potential to deliver benefits beyond standard
complement inhibition,” stated Ms. Jacques.
“Our pipeline, including two late-stage pivotal programs, has
tremendous potential for patients with significant unmet needs
and we are working with urgency to realize that promise for
them.”Before this appointment, Ms. Jacques served as Chief
Executive Officer of Enzyvant Therapeutics Inc.,
a commercial-stage biotechnology company developing
transformative regenerative therapies for rare diseases.
Prior to Enzyvant, she served as the Senior Vice President and
Global Complement Franchise Head at Alexion
Pharmaceuticals, Inc., where she was responsible for
global franchise strategy development and execution of the C5
complement inhibitors, eculizumab and ravulizumab, across the
therapeutic areas of hematology, nephrology and neurology. She
was Vice President of U.S. Hematology Marketing at Baxalta
Inc. and then Shire plc, following Shire’s acquisition of
Baxalta in 2016. At Baxalta, she served as Vice President of
Business Operations after its spinoff from Baxter
International Inc. Ms. Jacques held multiple leadership
positions at Baxter, including Vice President of Finance, U.S.
BioScience Business. Earlier in her career, Ms. Jacques
served in various roles at Dow Corning Corporation, including
operational management positions in the U.S., Europe, and China.Ms.
Jacques serves on the boards of directors
of uniQure N.V. (Nasdaq: QURE) and Corbus
Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: CRBP). She is co-chair of the Alliance
for Regenerative Medicine (ARM) Tissue Engineering &
Biomaterials Committee and is a founding member of the
ARM Action for Equality Task Force. Ms. Jacques received her
B.A. in business administration from Alma College.
About Akari Therapeutics
Akari is a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing
inhibitors of acute and chronic inflammation, specifically for the
treatment of rare and orphan diseases, in particular those where
the complement (C5) or leukotriene (LTB4) systems, or both
complement and leukotrienes together, play a primary role in
disease progression. Akari's lead drug candidate, nomacopan, is a
C5 complement inhibitor that also independently and specifically
inhibits leukotriene B4 (LTB4) activity. Nomacopan is currently
being clinically evaluated in four areas: bullous pemphigoid (BP),
thrombotic microangiopathy (TMA), as well as programs in the eye
and lung.
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking
Statements
Certain statements in this press release constitute
“forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private
Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking
statements reflect our current views about our plans, intentions,
expectations, strategies and prospects, which are based on the
information currently available to us and on assumptions we have
made. Although we believe that our plans, intentions, expectations,
strategies and prospects as reflected in or suggested by those
forward-looking statements are reasonable, we can give no assurance
that the plans, intentions, expectations or strategies will be
attained or achieved. Furthermore, actual results may differ
materially from those described in the forward-looking statements
and will be affected by a variety of risks and factors that are
beyond our control. Such risks and uncertainties for our company
include, but are not limited to: needs for additional capital to
fund our operations, our ability to continue as a going concern;
uncertainties of cash flows and inability to meet working capital
needs; an inability or delay in obtaining required regulatory
approvals for Nomacopan and any other product candidates, which may
result in unexpected cost expenditures; our ability to obtain
orphan drug designation in additional indications; risks inherent
in drug development in general; uncertainties in obtaining
successful clinical results for Nomacopan and any other product
candidates and unexpected costs that may result therefrom;
difficulties enrolling patients in our clinical trials; our ability
to enter into collaborative, licensing, and other commercial
relationships and on terms commercially reasonable to us; failure
to realize any value of Nomacopan and any other product candidates
developed and being developed in light of inherent risks and
difficulties involved in successfully bringing product candidates
to market; inability to develop new product candidates and support
existing product candidates; the approval by the U.S. Food and Drug
Administration (FDA) and European Medicines Agency (EMA) and any
other similar foreign regulatory authorities of other competing or
superior products brought to market; risks resulting from
unforeseen side effects; risk that the market for Nomacopan may not
be as large as expected; risks associated with the impact of the
COVID-19 pandemic; inability to obtain, maintain and enforce
patents and other intellectual property rights or the unexpected
costs associated with such enforcement or litigation; inability to
obtain and maintain commercial manufacturing arrangements with
third party manufacturers or establish commercial scale
manufacturing capabilities; the inability to timely source adequate
supply of our active pharmaceutical ingredients from third party
manufacturers on whom the company depends; unexpected cost
increases and pricing pressures and risks and other risk factors
detailed in our public filings with the Securities and Exchange
Commission (SEC), including our most recently filed Annual Report
on Form 20-F filed with the SEC. Except as otherwise noted, these
forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this press
release and we undertake no obligation to update or revise any of
these statements to reflect events or circumstances occurring after
this press release. We caution investors not to place considerable
reliance on the forward-looking statements contained in this press
release.
For more information
Investor Contact:Peter VozzoICR Westwicke(443)
213-0505peter.vozzo@westwicke.com
Media Contact:Sukaina Virji/ Maya BennisonConsilium Strategic
Communications+44 (0)20 3709 5700Akari@consilium-comms.com
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