Alpine Immune Sciences Appoints Zelanna Goldberg, M.D., M.A.S. as Chief Medical Officer
Alpine Immune Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALPN), a leading clinical-stage immunotherapy company focused on developing innovative treatments for cancer and autoimmune/inflammatory diseases, today announced the appointment of industry veteran Zelanna Goldberg, M.D., M.A.S. as its Chief Medical Officer. Dr. Goldberg joins Alpine from Iovance Biotherapeutics, where she was Senior Vice President, Clinical Science.
"We are very enthusiastic about the addition of Zelanna to the Alpine team, particularly as we pursue an expanding scope of clinical development activities across oncology and inflammatory disease indications," said Stanford Peng, M.D., Ph.D., President and Head of Research and Development at Alpine. "Zelanna is an experienced clinical development executive with a commitment to helping patients with life-threatening and debilitating diseases."
"I am thrilled to join Alpine and lead the clinical strategy and development of the company's extremely promising pipeline, including ALPN-101, ALPN-202, and ALPN-303," said Dr. Goldberg. "I look forward to integrating within the research and development team to continue to advance these unique therapies and those that are coming next from Alpine's directed evolution platform to meaningfully improve the lives of patients with cancer and life-threatening auto-immune diseases."
Dr. Goldberg brings over 20 years of industry and clinical practice experience, including strategic and/or operational responsibility for multiple therapeutic products such as dacomitinib (Vizimpro), palbociclib (Ibrance), and avelumab (Bavencio). Most recently, Dr. Goldberg was Senior Vice President, Clinical Sciences at Iovance Biotherapeutics, where she oversaw multiple aspects of the clinical development program of lifileucel (LN-145). Prior to Iovance, Dr. Goldberg held roles of increasing responsibility at Sunesis, Oxigene and Pfizer, where she was the global clinical lead for multiple assets. Prior to entering industry, Dr. Goldberg was an Associate Professor in the Department of Radiation Oncology at the University of California, Davis Medical Center.
Dr. Goldberg received her M.D. degree from University of Toronto Faculty of Medicine. Dr. Goldberg completed her residency in Radiation Oncology at Ontario Cancer Institute/Princess Margaret Hospital-University of Toronto, and her post-doctoral training in radiosensitizing drugs at Stanford University.
Disclosure of Inducement Grant under Nasdaq Listing Rules
The compensation committee of Alpine's board of directors granted Dr. Goldberg an option to purchase 160,000 shares of common stock. The option will vest with respect to 25% of the shares underlying the option on the one-year anniversary of Dr. Goldberg's employment start date of June 1, 2021, and the remaining 75% of the shares underlying the option will vest in equal monthly installments over the 36-month period following the one-year anniversary of Dr. Goldberg's employment start date, subject to her continued service to Alpine through each relevant vesting date. In addition, pursuant to the terms of Alpine's change of control and severance policy, if there is a change of control and, upon or during the 12 months after the change of control, Dr. Goldberg's employment is terminated either (i) by Alpine without cause or (ii) by Dr. Goldberg for good reason, the option will become fully vested and exercisable. The option has a ten-year term and an exercise price of $10.29, equal to the per share closing price of Alpine's common stock as reported by Nasdaq on June 1, 2021.
The stock options were granted outside Alpine's 2018 Equity Incentive Plan as an inducement material to Dr. Goldberg entering into employment with Alpine in accordance with Nasdaq Listing Rule 5635(c)(4). The terms and conditions of the option are generally consistent with those in Alpine's 2018 Equity Incentive Plan.
About Alpine Immune Sciences, Inc.
Alpine Immune Sciences, Inc. is committed to leading a new wave of immune therapeutics. With world-class research and development capabilities, a highly productive scientific platform, and a proven management team, Alpine is seeking to create first- or best-in-class multifunctional immunotherapies via unique protein engineering technologies to improve patients' lives. Alpine has entered into strategic collaborations with leading global biopharmaceutical companies and has a diverse pipeline of clinical and preclinical candidates in development. For more information, visit www.alpineimmunesciences.com. Follow @AlpineImmuneSci on Twitter and LinkedIn.
Forward-Looking Statements
This release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are not based on historical fact and include statements regarding Alpine's platform technology, potential therapies, future development plans, clinical and regulatory objectives and the timing thereof, and expectations regarding the potential efficacy and commercial potential of Alpine's and its collaborator's product candidates. Forward-looking statements generally include statements that are predictive in nature and depend upon or refer to future events or conditions and include words such as "may," "will," "should," "would," "expect," "plan," "intend," and other similar expressions, among others. These forward-looking statements are based on current assumptions that involve risks, uncertainties, and other factors that may cause actual results, events, or developments to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond our control, include, but are not limited to: the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our business, research and clinical development plans and timelines and results of operations, including the impact on our clinical trial sites, collaborators, and contractors who act for or on our behalf, may be more severe and prolonged than currently anticipated; clinical trials may not demonstrate safety and efficacy of any of our product candidates; our ongoing discovery and preclinical efforts may not yield additional product candidates; our discovery-stage and preclinical programs may not advance into the clinic or result in approved products; any of our product candidates may fail in development, may not receive required regulatory approvals, or may be delayed to a point where they are not commercially viable; we may not achieve additional milestones in our proprietary or partnered programs; the impact of competition; adverse conditions in the general domestic and global economic markets; as well as the other risks identified in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date hereof and we undertake no obligation to update forward-looking statements, and readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements.
"Secreted Immunomodulatory Proteins", "SIP", "Transmembrane Immunomodulatory Protein," "TIP," "Variant Ig Domain," "vIgD" and the Alpine logo are registered trademarks or trademarks of Alpine Immune Sciences, Inc. in various jurisdictions.
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