Akari Therapeutics Announces the Appointment of Accomplished Biotech Executive Melissa Bradford-Klug as Chief Operating Officer to Lead Business Development and Company Growth Strategies
June 13 2022 - 7:00AM
Akari Therapeutics, Plc (Nasdaq: AKTX), a late-stage biotechnology
company focused on developing advanced therapies for autoimmune and
inflammatory diseases, today announced the appointment of Melissa
Bradford-Klug as Chief Operating Officer, effective July 1, 2022.
In this position, she will lead business development, including
financing and partnering strategies, acceleration of prioritized
nomacopan late-stage and preclinical development programs, as well
as other business operations. Ms. Klug has more than 25 years of
experience as a leader within companies ranging from large global
healthcare organizations to biotech startups. She has a strong
track record of developing and executing capital markets strategies
for private and public companies, as well as experience in
operations management and corporate and business development.
“We are very pleased to have an accomplished executive of
Melissa’s caliber at Akari to lead our business development and
bold growth strategies as we accelerate two nomacopan late-stage
clinical trials in bullous pemphigoid and pediatric hematopoietic
stem cell transplant-related thrombotic microangiopathy, as well as
preclinical work on PAS-nomacopan in geographic atrophy,” said
Rachelle Jacques, President and CEO of Akari Therapeutics.
“Melissa’s background and capabilities in business development and
operations put our company in a strong position to fully realize
the promise and value of our pipeline on behalf of investors,
patients and other stakeholders.”
Prior to joining Akari Therapeutics, Ms. Klug was President and
Chief Business Officer at RareStone Group, where she led
identification and execution of strategic transactions for rare
disease development programs for the China market. As co-founder
and Chief Executive Officer of the women’s health startup, Mayfield
Pharmaceuticals (now Harrow Health), she created the company’s
strategy, secured funding, drove clinical development and oversaw
operations. Ms. Klug has a strong track record of successful
fundraising, global acquisitions, licensing, and development
collaborations. She has held senior strategy and corporate/business
development roles at Keryx Biopharmaceuticals, AMAG
Pharmaceuticals, Mallinckrodt and Baxter International. She also
has held commercial and research and development positions at Eli
Lilly and Company and Monsanto. Ms. Klug is a member of the MassBio
Board of Directors and Gender Diversity Committee and is a
MassConnect mentor. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in
chemistry from Maryville University in St. Louis, Missouri and an
MBA from DePaul University in Chicago, Illinois.
“It is an exciting time to be joining the Akari team as the
company advances its lead asset, nomacopan, toward pivotal clinical
trials and potential regulatory filings in the U.S. and Europe,”
said Melissa Bradford-Klug. “I was attracted to Akari because of
the significant opportunities for company growth and value
creation, and the possibility of delivering life-changing treatment
options for patients with significant unmet needs.”
About Akari TherapeuticsAkari Therapeutics, plc
(Nasdaq: AKTX) is a biotechnology company focused on developing
advanced therapies for autoimmune and inflammatory diseases.
Akari's lead asset, investigational nomacopan, is a bispecific
recombinant inhibitor of C5 complement activation and leukotriene
B4 (LTB4) activity. The Akari pipeline includes two late-stage
programs for bullous pemphigoid (BP) and thrombotic microangiopathy
(TMA), as well as earlier stage research and development programs
in eye and lung diseases with significant unmet need. For more
information about Akari, please visit akaritx.com.
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking
StatementsCertain 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 there; difficulties enrolling patients in our
clinical trials; 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 FDA and 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 U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, 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:Eliza SchleifsteinSchleifstein PR(917)
763-8106eliza@schleifsteinpr.com
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