Baton Rouge, LA, May 19, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Adhera Therapeutics, Inc. (OTCQB: ATRX) ("Adhera" or the "Company"), a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company, is pleased to announce the appointment of Trond K. Waerness as Chairman of the Company’s Board of Directors. Mr. Waerness has been serving as a Director at Adhera since April 2021.
Mr. Waerness is a pharmaceutical executive with approximately 25 years of experience in all areas of pharmaceutical commercialization. He has held roles in sales, sales management, BD, M&A, operations, and marketing on both the manufacturer and vendor side during his time working with companies including Glaxo-Wellcome, Novartis, Cornerstone Biopharma, Jobson Healthcare, Rx Sample Solutions, and MedVantx. In the last six years, Mr. Waerness has founded/co-founded three successful and profitable pharma services companies. He received his leadership education in the Royal Norwegian Army’s officer school and his undergraduate business education at the Lundy-Fetterman School of Business at Campbell University.
Mr. Waerness is assuming the role of Chairman, replacing Andrew Kucharchuk, who will remain Chief Executive Officer and Vice-Chairman.
The Company has also nominated Zahed Subhan, BS MS PhD MBA LLB, who currently serves on Adhera’s Board of Directors, as interim Chief Scientific Officer. Terms are being finalized with expectations to execute the agreement in the coming weeks.
“We are focused on our fundamentals and positioning our team to efficiently advance our pipeline and build shareholder value,” said Andrew Kucharchuk. “Trond has an impressive track record of success in business development and a comprehensive skillset across the pharmaceutical spectrum. He is the ideal Chairman to lead Adhera as we move our lead drug candidates for Type 1 diabetes and Parkinson’s disease into mid-stage clinical trials and work to uplist our company to the NASDAQ exchange. We hope to announce Dr. Subhan as interim CSO in short order, where he will be instrumental in advancing our clinical development programs.”
The Company is planning to initiate a Phase 2 clinical trial of MLR-1023 as a new treatment for Type 1 Diabetes where its role in pancreatic beta cell protection and proliferation represents a potential major breakthrough in diabetes care. MLR-1023 is a next generation, non-PPAR insulin sensitizer via lyn kinase activation that has demonstrated exceptional clinical safety and tolerability in over 700 patients in Phase 2a and 2b diabetes studies. The active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) for this trial has already been manufactured.
The Company is also actively working to initiate a Phase 2a study to evaluate MLR-1019 for Parkinson’s Disease. To the best of the Company’s knowledge, MLR-1019 is the only drug in development that has the potential to address both movement and non-movement aspects of the disease. The trial is designed to enroll Parkinson’s Disease patients with L-DOPA induced dyskinesia, a frequent and potential disabling motor side effect of levodopa therapy. The API for this trial has now entered the manufacturing process.
About Adhera Therapeutics
Adhera Therapeutics is a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company focused on identifying advanced drug candidates that may qualify for accelerated developmental pathways. The Company has licensed two drug candidates, MLR-1019 and MLR-1023, from the Melior Discovery family of companies. Adhera is developing MLR-1023 (tolimidone) as a new drug for Type I diabetes with a focus on C-peptide positive patients. Adhera also has exclusive rights to develop MLR-1023 for Non-Alcoholic Steatohepatitis (NASH) and pulmonary inflammation diseases and conditions. MLR-1023, a lyn kinase activator, has demonstrated exceptional clinical safety and tolerability in over 700 patients in Phase 2a and Phase 2b Type 2 diabetes studies. MLR-1019 (armesocarb) is a new class of drug for Parkinson’s Disease and is believed by the Company to represents the only drug to address both movement and non-movement symptoms of Parkinson’s Disease. Armesocarb is the active enantiomer in mesocarb, a drug marketed in Europe for 37 years for various psychiatric and central nervous system indications. In addition to advancing both drug candidates in Phase 2 clinical trials, the Company remains active in exploring other advanced drug development opportunities while maintaining its legacy assets, including CEQ508, an oral delivery of small interfering RNA (siRNA) against beta-catenin, to suppress polyps in the precancerous syndrome and orphan indication Familial Adenomatous Polyposis (FAP).
Forward Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements as defined by the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 including the anticipated benefits of the Company’s compounds, the initiation of Phase 2 trials, execution of license agreements, completion of a financing and the amount of proceeds, if any, from the contemplated financing and future collaborative opportunities. Forward-looking statements involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions that could cause Adhera Therapeutics' actual results and experiences to differ materially from anticipated results and expectations expressed in these forward looking statements. Adhera Therapeutics has in some cases identified forward-looking statements by using words such as "anticipates," "believes," "hopes," "estimates," "looks," "expects," "plans," "intends," "goal," "potential," "may," "suggest," and similar expressions. Among other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in forward-looking statements are Adhera Therapeutics' need for, and the availability of, substantial capital in the future to fund its operations and research and development, the ability to agree upon the terms of the proposed financing with potential investors and existing noteholders and close on it, general risks in obtaining approval to initiate clinical trials, safety or efficacy issues arising during the trials, and the ultimate risks in reaching the commercialization stage. A more complete description of these risk factors is included in Adhera Therapeutics filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. You should not place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements. Adhera Therapeutics undertakes no obligation to release publicly the results of any revisions to any such forward-looking statements that may be made to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this press release or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events, except as required by applicable law or regulation.
INVESTOR AND MEDIA CONTACT:
Adhera Therapeutics, Inc.
Andrew Kucharchuk
Chief Executive Officer
akucharchuk@adherathera.com
