NeuBase Therapeutics Designates Industry Leaders to Board of Directors
Board members bring decades of executive experience in successful commercialization of pharmaceuticals to NeuBase
PITTSBURGH, May 16, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- NeuBase Therapeutics, Inc. (“NeuBase”), a biotechnology company developing next generation antisense therapies to address genetic diseases, today announced that it has designated four experienced executives from the biotechnology industry for its board of directors (the “Board”), including Dov A. Goldstein, M.D., M.B.A., Diego Miralles, M.D., Franklyn Prendergast, M.D., Ph.D., and Eric Richman, M.B.A, to become effective upon the closing of the Company’s merger with Ohr Pharmaceutical, Inc. (NASDAQ: OHRP) (“Ohr”). The four designees, together with Dietrich A. Stephan, Ph.D., chairman and chief executive officer of the company, will comprise the entire board of directors for the combined company.
“We are honored that such an esteemed group of industry veterans has chosen to join the NeuBase board of directors. Collectively, these individuals have extensive experience building and running highly successful therapeutics companies – both emergent companies as well as pharmaceutical giants – and delivering value to patients and shareholders. They each recognize the enormous potential of our antisense PATrOL™ platform to address a multitude of diseases that affect significant portions of the global population,” said Dr. Stephan. “Our board brings together a strong mix of executive, financial, scientific and clinical expertise that will allow us to accelerate the development of our first-in-class PATrOL-enabled therapies.”
Dr. Miralles added, “The board is excited to work with Dr. Stephan and the rest of NeuBase team. The next generation PATrOL™ platform is uniquely able to generate ASO therapies with high target selectivity, broad tissue distribution and blood brain barrier penetration, all of which significantly enhance the impact that ASO therapies can have on a wide array of unmet medical needs. These can be applied to many patients currently suffering from devastating genetic diseases and those who are gene positive but have yet to exhibit symptoms.”
Biographical Information
Dr. Goldstein brings to the NeuBase board of directors more than two decades of experience in the biopharmaceutical industry as a venture capital investor, an executive and a member of the boards of directors of a number of successful companies including ADMA Biologics (ADMA), Cempra Pharmaceuticals (CEMP), Durata Therapeutics, Esperion Therapeutics (ESPR), and Loxo Oncology (LOXO). The companies where Dr. Goldstein has played a leadership role have resulted in the approval of 2 drugs: Eraxis (anidulafungin) and Dalvance (dalbavancin). Dr. Goldstein was the chief financial officer of Schrödinger, LLC from 2017 to 2018. Dr. Goldstein served as a Managing Partner at Aisling Capital, a healthcare dedicated private investment firm, from 2014 to October 2017, Partner from 2008 to 2014 and a Principal at Aisling Capital from 2006 to 2008. Dr. Goldstein served as the chief financial officer of Loxo Oncology, Inc. between July 2014 and January 2015, and was its acting chief financial officer from January 2015 to May 2015. From 2000 to 2005, Dr. Goldstein served as chief financial officer of Vicuron Pharmaceuticals, Inc., which was acquired by Pfizer, Inc. in September 2005, and helped lead the M&A process. Prior to joining Vicuron, Dr. Goldstein was director of venture analysis at HealthCare Ventures. Dr. Goldstein serves as a director and chairman of the compensation committee of ADMA Biologics, Inc. (Nasdaq: ADMA). He serves as a director and member of the audit committee of Esperion Therapeutics (ESPR). Dr. Goldstein received a B.S. from Stanford University, an MBA from Columbia Business School and an M.D. from Yale School of Medicine.
Dr. Diego Miralles brings successful drug development expertise at both large and early-stage pharmaceutical companies to the board of NeuBase. Dr. Miralles is the chief executive officer of Vividion Therapeutics, Inc., a biotechnology company with a platform to discover and develop small molecule therapeutics. Prior to Vividion, Dr. Miralles had an extensive career at Johnson & Johnson, culminating in his position as the Global Head of Innovation and a member of the management committee of Janssen. He started his career at Johnson & Johnson at Tibotec BVBA, a leading virology company where he was a member of the management board and was involved in the development and approval of PREZISTA® and INTELENCE®. He was the head of the Janssen Research and Early Development unit in La Jolla, CA. While at Johnson & Johnson, he founded and launched the JLABS incubator for start-up life science entrepreneurs, and was instrumental in developing and launching Johnson & Johnson’s Innovation center model. Prior to Johnson & Johnson, Dr. Miralles held R&D positions at Trimeris, Inc. and Triangle Pharmaceuticals, Inc., and he was an assistant professor at Duke University Medical Center, where he was a bench scientist and an infectious disease physician, with a focus on HIV. He received his M.D. degree from the Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina, completed his internal medicine residency at the Mayo Clinic and was a fellow in Infectious Diseases at Cornell University-New York Hospital.
Dr. Franklyn Prendergast brings decades of significant experience to Neubase, in addition to his scientific expertise in peptide nucleic acids, membrane biochemistry and oncology. Currently, Dr. Prendergast is the chairman of the board of directors of the Infectious Disease Research Institute and serves on the boards of several start-up companies. Previously, Dr. Prendergast was a member of the board of directors of Eli Lilly & Co. from 1995 to 2017 while simultaneously serving as a director of the Mayo Clinic Cancer Center. He has also held several additional positions at the Mayo Clinic, including as a member of the board of governors and the board of trustees, as the director of the Mayo Clinic Center for Individualized Medicine and as the Emeritus Edmond and Marion Guggenheim Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and an Emeritus Professor of Molecular Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics at the Mayo Medical School. He was named a Mayo Clinic Distinguished Investigator in 1989. Throughout his career, Dr. Prendergast has served with the NIH on a number of grant review groups and advisory committees, including as a member of the board of advisors for the Division of Research Grants and on the National Advisory General Medical Sciences Council. In addition to these positions, Dr. Prendergast held a Presidential Commission for service on the National Cancer Advisory Board. Dr. Prendergast obtained his M.D. degree from the University of West Indies and attended Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar, earning an M.A. degree in Physiology. He obtained his Ph.D. in Biochemistry at the University of Minnesota.
Mr. Richman brings experience in investing in and operating early stage biotech companies. He was involved with the development and launch of several orphan drugs including CytoGam®, Synagis®, Cinryze®, Ethyol®, Respigam®, and others and has decades of experience at PharmAthene, MedImmune and Tyrogenex. Currently, Mr. Richman is the interim chief executive officer of LabConnect, Inc., a provider of global central laboratory services, a position he has held since November 2018. Mr. Richman was previously a venture partner at Brace Pharma Capital, a life science venture capital firm, from January 2016 to September 2018 and is involved with several private and public biotechnology companies. He served as chief executive officer of Tyrogenex Inc., a biopharmaceutical company, from 2016 to 2018. Mr. Richman served as the president and chief executive officer of PharmAthene, Inc., subsequently acquired by Altimmune, Inc., between October 2010 and March 2015. He also served on PharmAthene’s board of directors, when the company was listed on the NYSE, from 2010 to 2017. Prior to joining PharmAthene, Mr. Richman was a member of the founding team of MedImmune, where he held various commercial and strategic positions, including director of international commercialization. In addition, he has served as a member of numerous boards of directors. Mr. Richman currently serves as a director of ADMA Biologics, Inc. (Nasdaq: ADMA), including audit, compensation and governance and nominating committees; Variant Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; NovelStem International Corp. (OTCMKTS: NSTM); and LabConnect, Inc. where he serves as the chairman of the board. Mr. Richman has also served as a director of Lev Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and as chairman of its commercialization committee, and served as a director of American Bank Incorporated (acquired by Viropharma). Mr. Richman received a B.S. in Biomedical Science from the Sophie Davis School of Biomedical Education (CUNY Medical School) and a M.B.A. from the American Graduate School of International Management.
Additional Information about the Proposed Merger and Where to Find It
In connection with the proposed merger, Ohr has filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") a registration statement on Form S-4, as amended, that contains a joint proxy statement/prospectus. Investors and security holders of NeuBase are urged to read these materials because they contain important information about NeuBase, Ohr and the proposed merger. The joint proxy statement/prospectus, and other relevant materials, and any other documents filed by Ohr with the SEC, may be obtained free of charge at the SEC web site at www.sec.gov. In addition, investors and security holders may obtain free copies of the registration statement on Form S-4, as amended, that contains a joint proxy statement/prospectus by directing a written request to: NeuBase Therapeutics, Inc., 213 Smithfield Street, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15222, Attention: CEO. Investors and security holders are urged to read the joint proxy statement/prospectus and the other relevant materials before making any voting or investment decision with respect to the proposed merger.
This communication shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities of NeuBase or Ohr, nor shall there be any sale of securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such jurisdiction. No offering of securities shall be made except by means of a prospectus meeting the requirements of Section 10 of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended.
Participants in the Solicitation
Ohr and its directors and executive officers and NeuBase and its directors and executive officers may be deemed to be participants in the solicitation of proxies from the stockholders of Ohr in connection with the proposed merger. Information regarding the special interests of these directors and executive officers in the proposed merger are included in the joint proxy statement/prospectus referred to above. Additional information regarding the directors and executive officers of Ohr is also included in Ohr's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended September 30, 2018 and the proxy statement for Ohr's 2018 Annual Meeting of Stockholders. Additional information regarding the directors and executive officers of NeuBase is also included in Ohr's registration statement on Form S-4 that contains a joint proxy statement/prospectus. These documents are available free of charge at the SEC web site (www.sec.gov) and from NeuBase, Attn: Corporate Secretary, at the address described above.
About NeuBase Therapeutics
NeuBase Therapeutics, Inc. is developing the next generation of gene silencing therapies with its flexible, highly specific synthetic antisense oligonucleotides. The proprietary NeuBase peptide-nucleic acid (PNA) antisense oligonucleotide (PATrOL™) platform allows for the rapid development of targeted drugs, increasing the treatment opportunities for the hundreds of millions of people affected by rare genetic diseases, including those that can only be treated through accessing of secondary RNA structures. Using PATrOL technology, NeuBase aims to first tackle rare, genetic neurological disorders.
Safe Harbor Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995:
This press release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act. These forward-looking statements include, among other things, statements regarding the timing of the appointment of the additional directors to the Board and details regarding the proposed merger; that the proposed merger will close; and the executive and board structure of the combined company. These forward-looking statements are distinguished by use of words such as "will," "would," "anticipate," "expect," "believe," "designed," "plan," or "intend," the negative of these terms, and similar references to future periods. These views involve risks and uncertainties that are difficult to predict and, accordingly, our actual results may differ materially from the results discussed in our forward-looking statements. Our forward-looking statements contained herein speak only as of the date of this press release. Factors or events that we cannot predict, including those described in the risk factors contained in Ohr’s registration statement on Form S-4, as amended, that contains a joint proxy statement/prospectus, may cause our actual results to differ from those expressed in forward-looking statements. Ohr and the combined company may not actually achieve the plans, carry out the intentions or meet the expectations or projections disclosed in the forward-looking statements, and you should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. Because such statements deal with future events and are based on Ohr’s and NeuBase’s current expectations, they are subject to various risks and uncertainties and actual results, performance or achievements of Ohr or the combined company could differ materially from those described in or implied by the statements in this press release, including: the risk that the conditions to the closing of the merger are not satisfied, including the failure to timely or at all obtain stockholder approval for the transaction; uncertainties as to the timing of the consummation of the transaction and the ability of each of Ohr and NeuBase to consummate the transaction; risks related to the combined company’s ability to correctly manage its operating expenses and its expenses; risks related to the market price of Ohr’s common stock relative to the exchange ratio; unexpected costs, charges or expenses resulting from the transaction; potential adverse reactions or changes to business relationships resulting from the announcement or completion of the proposed merger transaction; combined company’s plans to develop and commercialize its product candidates, including NT0100 and NT0200; the timing of initiation of combined company’s planned clinical trials; the timing of the availability of data from combined company’s clinical trials; the timing of any planned investigational new drug application or new drug application; combined company’s plans to research, develop and commercialize its current and future product candidates; the clinical utility, potential benefits and market acceptance of combined company’s product candidates; combined company’s commercialization, marketing and manufacturing capabilities and strategy; the combined company’s ability to protect its intellectual property position; and the requirement for additional capital to continue to advance these product candidates, which may not be available on favorable terms or at all, as well as those risks discussed under the heading "Risk Factors" in Ohr’s registration statement on Form S-4, as amended, that contains a joint proxy statement/prospectus. Except as otherwise required by law, NeuBase disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof, whether as a result of new information, future events or circumstances or otherwise.
NeuBase Investor Contact:
Dan Ferry
Managing Director
LifeSci Advisors, LLC
Daniel@lifesciadvisors.com
OP: (617) 535-7746
NeuBase Media Contact:
Cait Williamson, Ph.D.
LifeSci Public Relations
cait@lifescipublicrelations.com
OP: (646) 751-4366
Released May 16, 2019