Harpoon Therapeutics Appoints Luke Walker, M.D., as Chief Medical Officer
October 04 2022 - 7:30AM
Harpoon Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: HARP), a clinical-stage
immunotherapy company developing novel T cell engagers, today
announced the appointment of Luke Walker, M.D., as Chief
Medical Officer. Dr. Walker will lead the clinical development
strategy and its execution for Harpoon Therapeutics and the product
candidates derived from the company’s multiple technology
platforms. Dr. Walker will report to Julie Eastland, Harpoon
Therapeutics’ President and Chief Executive Officer, and his
appointment was effective October 3, 2022.
“I’m excited to join Harpoon Therapeutics and work alongside
science-driven, collaborative colleagues, who are driven by the
potential to impact patients’ lives by developing novel
therapeutics,” said Dr. Walker. “Harpoon has multiple ongoing
clinical programs with product candidates which have demonstrated
meaningful clinical activity to reach a broad set of patients with
high unmet medical needs. I look forward to working with the
Harpoon team to move these clinical-stage product candidates
forward and to advance the company’s platforms in both hematologic
and solid tumors.”
Dr. Walker comes to Harpoon Therapeutics from Seagen Inc. where
he most recently served as Vice President of Clinical Development
and was responsible for overseeing the global development of
multiple early-stage clinical programs. At Seagen, he previously
served as Global Development Lead for TUKYSA® (tucatinib) through
its approval and market launch for HER2-positive metastatic breast
cancer. Dr. Walker came to Seagen through the acquisition of
Cascadian Therapeutics, after having led the clinical development
of the tucatinib program there from its early stages, working
closely with other members of the current Harpoon leadership team
and Board of Directors to successfully advance its development into
pivotal studies. He received his Medical Degree from the University
of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center and completed fellowship
training in Hematology and Medical Oncology at Oregon Health
Sciences University. After training, he practiced several years as
a clinical medical oncologist prior to his career in clinical drug
development.
“Harpoon warmly welcomes Dr. Walker to our senior leadership
team,” said Julie Eastland, President and Chief Executive
Officer of Harpoon Therapeutics. “His experience in leading
clinical development, as well as interactions with key opinion
leaders, investigators and investors provides a strong addition to
the leadership group. Dr. Walker is a proven leader who has
overseen the strategy for oncology therapeutics from early-stage
programs through the successful completion of pivotal
registrational trials and approvals, and we believe his addition
will provide significant strength for our clinical programs, as we
advance our lead T cell engager product candidates, HPN328 and
HPN217, through the clinic.”
Inducement Award under NASDAQ Listing Rule
5635(c)(4)
In connection with Dr. Walker’s appointment, Harpoon
Therapeutics granted him an inducement non-qualified stock option
to purchase an aggregate of 305,000 shares of Harpoon’s common
stock.
The stock option grant has an exercise price per share equal to
$1.08, Harpoon’s closing trading price on Nasdaq on the grant date,
October 3, 2022, and will vest over four years, with 1/4 of the
underlying shares vesting on the one-year anniversary of the grant
date and 1/36th of the underlying shares vesting monthly thereafter
over 36 months, subject to Dr. Walker’s continued service
relationship with Harpoon through the applicable vesting dates.
The independent directors of Harpoon’s Board of Directors
approved the award as an inducement material to Dr. Walker’s
employment in accordance with Nasdaq Listing Rule 5635(c)(4).
About Harpoon Therapeutics
Harpoon Therapeutics is a clinical-stage immunotherapy
company developing a novel class of T cell engagers that harness
the power of the body’s immune system to treat patients suffering
from cancer and other diseases. T cell engagers are engineered
proteins that direct a patient’s own T cells to kill target cells
that express specific proteins, or antigens, carried by the target
cells. Using its proprietary Tri-specific T cell Activating
Construct (TriTAC®) platform, Harpoon is developing a pipeline of
novel TriTACs initially focused on the treatment of solid
tumors and hematologic malignancies. Harpoon has also developed a
proprietary ProTriTAC™ platform, which applies a prodrug
concept to its TriTAC platform to create a therapeutic T cell
engager that remains inactive until it reaches the tumor. Harpoon’s
third proprietary technology platform, extended release TriTAC-XR,
is designed to mitigate cytokine release syndrome. For additional
information about Harpoon Therapeutics, please visit
www.harpoontx.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements within
the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of
1995. Words such as “look forward,” “potential,” “will,” and
similar expressions (as well as other words or expressions
referencing future events, conditions or circumstances) are
intended to identify forward-looking statements. These
forward-looking statements are based on Harpoon Therapeutics’
expectations and assumptions as of the date of this press release.
Each of these forward-looking statements involves risks and
uncertainties that could cause Harpoon Therapeutics’ clinical
development programs, future results or performance to differ
significantly from those expressed or implied by the
forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements contained in
this press release include, but are not limited to, statements
about the development and advancement of Harpoon Therapeutics’
platforms and product candidates and expectations regarding
strengthening of Harpoon’s Therapeutics’ clinical capacity and
leadership team and other statements that are not historical fact.
Many factors may cause differences between current expectations and
actual results, including unexpected safety or efficacy data
observed during clinical studies, preliminary data and trends may
not be predictive of future data or results, may not
demonstrate safety or efficacy or lead to regulatory approval by
the FDA or other regulatory agencies, clinical trial site
activation or enrollment rates that are lower than expected,
unanticipated or greater than anticipated impacts or delays due to
COVID-19, changes in expected or existing competition, changes in
the regulatory environment, the uncertainties and timing of the
regulatory approval process, the timing and results of unexpected
litigation or other disputes, and the sufficiency of Harpoon
Therapeutics’ cash resources. These and other factors that may
cause Harpoon Therapeutics’ actual results to differ from those
expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements in this
press release are discussed in Harpoon Therapeutics’ filings with
the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, including under
“Risk Factors” in Harpoon Therapeutics’ quarterly report on Form
10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2022 and future filings
by Harpoon Therapeutics. Except as required by
law, Harpoon Therapeutics assumes no obligation to update
any forward-looking statements contained herein to reflect any
change in expectations, even as new information becomes
available.
Contacts:
Investors:ICR WestwickeRobert H. UhlManaging
Director858-356-5932 robert.uhl@westwicke.com
Media:uncapped communications862-368-4464media@harpoontx.com
Harpoon Therapeutics (NASDAQ:HARP)
Historical Stock Chart
From Aug 2024 to Sep 2024
Harpoon Therapeutics (NASDAQ:HARP)
Historical Stock Chart
From Sep 2023 to Sep 2024