Akari Therapeutics Appoints Mark F. Kubik as Head of Business Development - Oncology

Global expertise in establishing and executing transformative transactions which have led to multiple approved therapeutic products

Successful track record across oncology therapeutics including ADCs and antibody therapies ranging from early discovery to pre-clinical/clinical stage

25+ year-career experience bolsters Company's efforts to address growing, high-value ADC market and maximize opportunities for non-dilutive capital

BOSTON and LONDON, May 01, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Akari Therapeutics, Plc (NASDAQ:AKTX), an oncology biotechnology company developing novel payload antibody drug conjugates (ADCs), today announced the appointment of Mark F. Kubik as Head of Business Development - Oncology.

Mr. Kubik is a well-established industry leader whose oncology expertise and transactions record has led to multiple approved therapeutic products and advanced clinical product candidates. Across his 25+ years career, Mr. Kubik has established a successful track record of transformative deal creation and productive alliances including ADCs, empowered antibody therapies, and biologics for companies such as SeaGen (now Pfizer), Abgenix (now Amgen), MacroGenics, and OncoImmune among others. 

"We are incredibly pleased to welcome Mark to our team to lead the Company's business development activities for our novel ADC platform and lead asset AKTX-101, including collaboration and partnership activities. We believe the insight and expertise he brings will be invaluable as we continue to advance our innovative novel ADC platform technology and position Akari as a key player in the ADC space," commented Abizer Gaslightwala, President and Chief Executive Officer of Akari.

Mr. Kubik added, "Over the past few years there has been significant Big Pharma interest and deal flow in the early-stage ADC space. While there is a lot of traction in this area of development, new, unique payloads with novel mechanisms that can advance the therapeutic potential of current ADCs are needed. I believe Akari's first novel payload, a spliceosome inhibitor, creates the potential for Akari's lead asset AKTX-101 (Trop2 targeted) to be a first-in-class immuno-oncology ADC therapy for patients across multiple solid tumors. I look forward to working with the Akari team to advance AKTX-101 and leverage its innovative ADC payload discovery platform for other targets leveraging its novel payload library."

Mr. Kubik joins Akari from having most recently served as Senior Vice President, U.S and EU Business Development at I-MAB Biopharma where he was responsible for business development, alliance management and product / portfolio planning directed toward the US and EU business and operating spheres. Prior to that, he held leadership positions at Genor Biopharma and Actinium Pharmaceuticals, respectively, as Chief Business Officer. Prior to his role at Actinium, Mr. Kubik served as CBO at OncoImmune, where he headed its business development function and led a process and transaction whereby the company was sold to Merck for $425M upfront with potential additional contingent regulatory and sales milestones and royalties. Prior to OncoImmune, he held positions in business development and led transformative and award-winning deal making including an ex-US strategic alliance on behalf of SeaGen (now Pfizer) with Takeda for Adcetris^® (brentuximab vedotin) (nominated by Recombinant Capital / Allicense for consideration as 2009 "Alliance of the Year") and a multi-program bispecific mAb discovery collaboration on behalf of MacroGenics with Gilead (won Licensing Executives Society (LES) Alliance of the Year in Life Sciences Award in 2013), and a global co-development agreement on behalf of Abgenix (now Amgen) with Immunex for Vectibix^® (panitumumab). Mr. Kubik also held roles at Protein Design Labs (PDL), XOMA, AvantGen, Glenmark Pharmaceuticals, i2 Pharmaceuticals / Velocity Sciences, and Invenra, among others.

Mr. Kubik received his MBA in Finance from the Leeds School of Business at the University of Colorado-Boulder and his BA (cum laude) in Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology (MCDB) from CU-Boulder.

About Akari Therapeutics

Akari Therapeutics is an oncology biotechnology company developing next-generation spliceosome payload antibody drug conjugates (ADCs). Utilizing its innovative ADC discovery platform, the Company has the ability to generate ADC candidates and optimize them based on the desired application to any target of interest. Akari's lead candidate, AKTX-101, targets the Trop2 receptor on cancer cells and with a proprietary linker, delivers its novel PH1 payload directly into the tumor. Unlike current ADCs that use tubulin inhibitors and DNA damaging agents as their payloads, PH1 is a novel payload that is a spliceosome inhibitor designed to disrupt RNA splicing within cancer cells. This splicing inhibition has been shown in preclinical animal models to induce cancer cell death while activating immune cells to drive robust and durable activity. In preclinical studies, AKTX-101 has shown to have significant activity and prolonged survival, relative to ADCs with traditional payloads. Additionally, AKTX-101 has the potential to be synergistic with checkpoint inhibitors and has demonstrated prolonged survival as both a single agent and in combination with checkpoint inhibitors, as compared to appropriate controls. The Company is generating validating data on its novel payload PH1 to continue advancing its lead asset, as well as other undisclosed targets with this novel payload.

For more information about the Company, please visit www.akaritx.com and connect on X and LinkedIn.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This press release includes express or implied forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, about the Company that involve risks and uncertainties relating to future events and the future performance of the Company. Actual events or results may differ materially from these forward-looking statements. Words such as "will," "could," "would," "should," "expect," "plan," "anticipate," "intend," "believe," "estimate," "predict," "project," "potential," "continue," "future," "opportunity" "will likely result," "target," variations of such words, and similar expressions or negatives of these words are intended to identify such forward-looking statements, although not all forward-looking statements contain these identifying words. Examples of such forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, express or implied statements regarding the ability of the Company to advance its product candidates for the treatment of cancer and any other diseases, and ultimately bring therapies to patients; the Company's targets, plans, objectives or goals for future operations, including those related to its product candidates; financial projections; future economic performance; and the assumptions underlying or relating to such statements. These statements are based on the Company's current plans, estimates and projections. By their very nature, forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties, both general and specific. A number of important factors, including those described in this communication, could cause actual results to differ materially from those contemplated in any forward-looking statements. Factors that may affect future results and may cause these forward-looking statements to be inaccurate include, without limitation: the potential impact of unforeseen liabilities, future capital expenditures, revenues, costs, expenses, earnings, synergies, economic performance, indebtedness, financial condition and losses on the future prospects, business and management strategies for the management, expansion and growth of the business; risks related to global as well as local political and economic conditions, including interest rate and currency exchange rate fluctuations; potential delays or failures related to research and/or development of the Company's programs or product candidates; risks related to any loss of the Company's patents or other intellectual property rights; any interruptions of the supply chain for raw materials or manufacturing for the Company's product candidates, including as a result of potential tariffs; the nature, timing, cost and possible success and therapeutic applications of product candidates being developed by the Company and/or its collaborators or licensees; the extent to which the results from the research and development programs conducted by the Company, and/or its collaborators or licensees may be replicated in other studies and/or lead to advancement of product candidates to clinical trials, therapeutic applications, or regulatory approval; uncertainty of the utilization, market acceptance, and commercial success of the Company's product candidates; risks related to competition for the Company's product candidates; and the Company's ability to successfully develop or commercialize its product candidates. While the foregoing list of factors presented here is considered representative, no list should be considered to be a complete statement of all potential risks and uncertainties. More detailed information about the Company and the risk factors that may affect the realization of forward-looking statements is set forth in the Company's filings with the SEC, copies of which may be obtained from the SEC's website at www.sec.gov. The Company assumes no, and hereby disclaims any, obligation to update the forward-looking statements contained in this press release except as required by law.

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