UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549
Form 6-K
Report of Foreign Private Issuer
Pursuant to Rule 13a-16 or 15d-16
under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934
For the month of: July 2023
Commission file number: 001-36288
Akari
Therapeutics, Plc
(Translation of registrant’s name into English)
75/76 Wimpole Street
London W1G 9RT
United Kingdom
(Address of principal executive offices)
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant files or will file annual
reports under cover of Form 20-F or Form 40-F.
Form 20-F x Form
40-F ¨
On July 19, 2023, Akari Therapeutics, Plc, a public
company with limited liability incorporated under the laws of England and Wales (the “Company”), issued a press release,
announcing the appointment of Wendy DiCicco as interim Chief Financial Officer of the Company. A copy of such press release is furnished
as Exhibit 99.1 to this Report on Form 6-K and incorporated herein by reference.
Appointment of New Officer
On July 17, 2023, the Company’s board of
directors appointed Wendy DiCicco as the Company’s interim Chief Financial Officer and entered into a consulting services agreement
(the “Consulting Agreement”) with Ms. DiCicco through Board Advantage LLC, an entity controlled by her. The Consulting
Agreement has a six month term and provides for a $32,000 per month fee, a performance bonus in the amount of $70,000 upon achievement
of certain milestones, reimbursement of certain expenses and an option that will fully vest on the first anniversary of the grant date
to purchase 5,000,000 of the Company’s ordinary shares in the Company.
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 recently 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 its Initial Public Offering (IPO) in 2021 and sale to Rocket Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: RCKT) 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 helped advanced the company through its pre-revenue IPO stage.
Her career started in public accounting at Deloitte & Touche. Ms. DiCicco currently serves on the public company board of directors
of EyePoint Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: EYPT) 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. (Nasdaq: SWKH), II-VI, Inc (now Coherent
Corp.), Sincerus Pharmaceuticals, Carmell Therapeutics, SynCardia Systems and CannaPharma Rx. She also is currently a member of 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).
The information under the heading “Appointment
of New Officer” is hereby incorporated by reference into all effective registration statements filed by the Company under the Securities
Act of 1933, as amended. The press release furnished as Exhibit 99.1 to this Report on Form 6-K is not hereby incorporated by reference
into such registration statements.
SIGNATURES
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934,
the Registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized.
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Akari Therapeutics, Plc |
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(Registrant) |
| |
|
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By: |
/s/ Rachelle Jacques |
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Name: |
Rachelle Jacques |
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Title: |
President and Chief Executive Officer |
Date: July 19, 2023
Exhibit 99.1
Akari Therapeutics Appoints Experienced Life Sciences Executive
Wendy DiCicco as Interim Chief Financial Officer
NEW YORK and LONDON, July 19, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Akari Therapeutics,
Plc (Nasdaq: AKTX), a late-stage biotechnology company developing advanced therapies for autoimmune and inflammatory diseases, today announced
the appointment of experienced life sciences executive Wendy DiCicco as interim Chief Financial Officer (CFO). Ms. DiCicco has more than
25 years of experience in the life sciences industry, currently serving as an independent financial and board advisor to companies, often
in the role of interim CFO.
“Wendy’s
broad and deep experience in both strategic and operational aspects of finance will be invaluable assets to our management team as we
work to bring nomacopan through its key milestones, create value for our investors, and make a meaningful difference for patients who
have significant unmet needs,” said Rachelle Jacques, President and CEO of Akari.
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).
About Akari Therapeutics
Akari Therapeutics, plc (Nasdaq: AKTX) is
a biotechnology company developing advanced therapies for autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. Akari’s lead asset, investigational
nomacopan, is a bispecific recombinant inhibitor of complement C5 activation and leukotriene B4 (LTB4) activity. Akari’s pipeline
includes a Phase 3 clinical trial program investigating nomacopan for severe pediatric hematopoietic stem cell transplant-related thrombotic
microangiopathy (HSCT-TMA). Akari has been granted Orphan Drug, Fast Track and Rare Pediatric Disease designations from the FDA for nomacopan
for the treatment of pediatric HSCT-TMA. Akari’s pipeline also includes a clinical program developing nomacopan for adult HSCT-TMA
and pre-clinical research of long-acting PAS-nomacopan in geographic atrophy (GA). For more information about Akari, please visit akaritx.com.
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking
Statements
Certain statements in this press release constitute
“forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking
statements reflect our current views about our plans, intentions, expectations, strategies, and prospects, which are based on the information
currently available to us and on assumptions we have made. Although we believe that our plans, intentions, expectations, strategies, and
prospects as reflected in or suggested by those forward-looking statements are reasonable, we can give no assurance that the plans, intentions,
expectations, or strategies will be attained or achieved. Furthermore, actual results may differ materially from those described in the
forward-looking statements and will be affected by a variety of risks and factors that are beyond our control. Such risks and uncertainties
for our company include, but are not limited to: needs for additional capital to fund our operations, our ability to continue as a going
concern; uncertainties of cash flows and inability to meet working capital needs; an inability or delay in obtaining required regulatory
approvals for nomacopan and any other product candidates, which may result in unexpected cost expenditures; our ability to obtain orphan
drug designation in additional indications; risks inherent in drug development in general; uncertainties in obtaining successful clinical
results for nomacopan and any other product candidates and unexpected costs that may result there; difficulties enrolling patients in
our clinical trials; failure to realize any value of nomacopan and any other product candidates developed and being developed in light
of inherent risks and difficulties involved in successfully bringing product candidates to market; inability to develop new product candidates
and support existing product candidates; the approval by the FDA and EMA and any other similar foreign regulatory authorities of other
competing or superior products brought to market; risks resulting from unforeseen side effects; risk that the market for nomacopan may
not be as large as expected risks associated with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic; inability to obtain, maintain and enforce patents
and other intellectual property rights or the unexpected costs associated with such enforcement or litigation; inability to obtain and
maintain commercial manufacturing arrangements with third party manufacturers or establish commercial scale manufacturing capabilities;
the inability to timely source adequate supply of our active pharmaceutical ingredients from third party manufacturers on whom the company
depends; unexpected cost increases and pricing pressures and risks and other risk factors detailed in our public filings with the U.S.
Securities and Exchange Commission, including our most recently filed Annual Report on Form 20-F filed with the SEC. Except as otherwise
noted, these forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this press release and we undertake no obligation to update or revise
any of these statements to reflect events or circumstances occurring after this press release. We caution investors not to place considerable
reliance on the forward-looking statements contained in this press release.
For more information
Investor Contact:
Mike Moyer
LifeSci Advisors
(617) 308-4306
mmoyer@lifesciadvisors.com
Media Contact:
Eliza Schleifstein
Schleifstein PR
(917) 763-8106
eliza@schleifsteinpr.com
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