Management

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

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. Hecompleted his Internal Medicine residency at Vanderbilt University and received his M.D. from Rush Medical School.

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.Klug@akaritx.com

Torsten Hombeck, Ph.D., joined Akari in June 2020 as Chief Financial Officer and has over two decades of experience in the biotechnology industry, finance, capital markets and M&A transactions as well as clinical and commercial drug development and regulatory filings.  Dr. Hombeck has served as a financial consultant to the Company since October 2019.  His previous positions include Chief Commercial and Strategy Officer and Managing Director at Promethera Biosciences, a private biopharmaceutical company, and Co-Chief Executive Officer and Chief Business Officer at Cytonet where he led its acquisition by Promethera Biosciences in 2016.  Prior to joining Cytonet, Dr. Hombeck served as Chief Financial Officer at both Agennix AG and GPC Biotech AG.  He holds a Masters in Business Administration as well as a Ph.D. in Finance and Accounting from EBS University of Business and Law, Oestrich-Winkel, Germany.

Contact: Torsten.Hombeck@akaritx.com

Miles Nunn was Chief Scientific Officer for Volution since April 2014, joining Akari in September 2015 during the Volution/Celsus merger. Prior to Volution, 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