Rachelle Jacques, President & CEO
Rachelle Jacques is the President and CEO of Akari Therapeutics, a late-stage biotechnology company focused on advanced therapies for autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. Before joining Akari, Ms. Jacques served as Chief Executive Officer of Enzyvant Therapeutics Inc., a commercial-stage biotechnology company developing transformative regenerative therapies for rare diseases. Prior to Enzyvant, she served as the Senior Vice President and Global Complement Franchise Head at Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc., where she was responsible for global franchise strategy development and execution of the C5 complement inhibitors, eculizumab and ravulizumab, across the therapeutic areas of hematology, nephrology and neurology. She was Vice President of U.S. Hematology Marketing at Baxalta Inc. and then Shire plc, following Shire’s acquisition of Baxalta in 2016. At Baxalta, she served as Vice President of Business Operations after its spinoff from Baxter International Inc. Ms. Jacques held multiple leadership positions at Baxter, including Vice President of Finance, U.S. BioScience Business.
Earlier in her career, Ms. Jacques served in various roles at Dow Corning Corporation, including operational management positions in the U.S., Europe, and China. She serves on the boards of directors of uniQure N.V. (Nasdaq: QURE) and Corbus Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: CRBP) and is a founding member of the Alliance for Regenerative Medicine (ARM) Action for Equality Task Force. Ms. Jacques received her B.A. in business administration from Alma College and is currently a member of the school’s Board of Trustees.
Contact: Rachelle.Jacques@akaritx.com
Dr. Miles Nunn, Chief Scientific Officer
Miles Nunn is the discoverer of nomacopan and has been Chief Scientific Officer of Akari since April 2014. Previously, he worked at the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) for 16 years. He discovered Volution’s lead drug, nomacopan (formerly Coversin), and is an inventor on several other patents. Dr. Nunn was formerly the Scientific Research Manager for Evolutec Group Plc, Director of Amplion Ltd., and a Principal Investigator for the Natural Environment Research Council.
His scientific interests center on the structural and functional interactions between parasite-derived molecules and host defense responses, in particular complement, and on exploitation of the associated information and parasite molecules for drug development. Dr. Nunn holds a D.Phil. from Oxford University, and M.Sc. from University College London.
Contact: Miles.Nunn@akaritx.com
Dr. John Neylan, Chief Medical Officer
John F. Neylan, III, MD is the Executive Vice President, Chief Medical Officer of Akari Therapeutics. Dr. Neylan has more than 20 years of experience in medical, clinical development, and R&D. Before joining Akari, he was Executive Vice President, Chief Medical Officer and Head of Research for Angion Biomedica Corporation, where he led the development of therapies for chronic fibrotic conditions of the lung and kidney, and acute organ injuries. Previously, he was Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer for Keryx Biopharmaceuticals and Senior Vice President, Clinical Development for Genzyme Corporation, where he headed up therapeutic development for specialty metabolic diseases including renal, cardiovascular, endocrine, and osteoarthritis indications. Dr. Neylan was the Vice President, Research & Development at Wyeth Research where he led development of transplant immunosuppressants, antivirals/antibacterials, antiarrhythmics, chemotherapeutics, and hemophilia factor replacements. He also served on multiple advisory committees for the FDA. Prior to joining industry, Dr. Neylan spent 12 years in academic medicine, progressing to Professor of Medicine at Emory University and Medical Director of the Emory Renal Transplant Program. He assumed numerous leadership positions in public policy and professional education, including the presidency of the American Society of Transplantation.
Dr. Neylan completed a clinical fellowship in Nephrology and a research fellowship in Transplantation and Immunogenetics at Brigham & Women’s Hospital, Harvard University. He completed his Internal Medicine residency at Vanderbilt University and received his M.D. from Rush Medical School.
Contact: John.Neylan@akaritx.com
Melissa Bradford-Klug, Chief Operating Officer
As Chief Operating Officer at Akari Therapeutics, Melissa Bradford-Klug leads strategy in multiple areas of the company, business development, partnering and fundraising activities, legal and commercial functions, and stakeholder relations.
Ms. Klug has a strong track record of successful fundraising, global acquisitions, licensing and development collaborations. Prior to joining Akari, Ms. Klug was President and Chief Business Officer at RareStone Group, where she led the 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 strategy, secured funding, drove clinical development and oversaw operations. 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.
Contact: Melissa.Bradford-Klug@akaritx.com
Wendy DiCicco, Chief Financial Officer (Interim)
Wendy DiCicco has more than 25 years of experience in the life sciences industry, currently serving as a board member or as an independent financial and board advisor to companies, often in the role of interim Chief Financial Officer (CFO).
Ms. DiCicco served as CFO for Renovacor, a pre-clinical biopharmaceutical company developing a gene therapy for cardiovascular disease. Initially as interim CFO, transitioning to permanent, she led the company through Initial Public Offering (IPO) in 2021 and sale to Rocket Pharmaceuticals in December 2022. She also served as interim CFO for FerGene, Inc. a Phase 3 urologic oncology gene therapy company from January 2020 through May 2022. Previously, she was CFO and Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Centinel Spine and the President and COO of Camber Spine, both developers of best-in-class spinal implants. She has held CFO roles for several pre-IPO, private equity backed medical device and biotech companies, in varying stages of commercialization. Her first CFO role was with Kensey Nash Corporation, a publicly traded developer and manufacturer of biologics and medical devices in the cardiovascular and orthopedics industries, where she advanced the company from a pre-revenue IPO stage to approximately $100 million in global revenue across multiple product platforms. Her career started in public accounting at Deloitte & Touche.
Ms. DiCicco currently serves on the public company Board of Directors of EyePoint Pharmaceuticals, Inc. where she serves as the Audit Committee Chair. In addition, she serves on the boards of Imvax, Inc. and ExpressCells. Ms. DiCicco has also served on the boards of SWK Holdings Corp., II-VI, Inc (now Coherent Corp.), Sincerus Pharmaceuticals, Carmell Therapeutics, SynCardia Systems and CannaPharma Rx. She is currently on the Board of Directors of the Philadelphia Chapter of the National Association of Corporate Directors.
Ms. DiCicco received a B.S. in accounting from Philadelphia College of Textiles and Science and is a licensed Certified Public Accountant (CPA). She also is an appointed Board Leadership Fellow and Corporate Governance Fellow of the National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD).
Contact: Wendy.DiCicco@akaritx.com
