Immune Pharmaceuticals appoints Rene Lerer and Daniel Kazado to its Board of Directors

– USA, NY / ISRAEL – Immune Pharmaceuticals Inc. (OTCQX and NASDAQ OMX Stockholm Exchange: IMNP), announced today that Rene Lerer, M.D., Executive Chairman of Magellan Health Services (NASDAQ: MGLN), and Daniel Kazado, Senior Advisor to Melini Capital, have agreed to join the Company’s Board of Directors. Dr. Lerer and Mr. Kazado replace Pierre Albouy and Herve de Kergrohen, who have resigned from the board but will continue as strategic advisors to the Company. The Company’s Board of Directors will continue to consist of a total of seven members.

Rene Lerer, M.D., is an accomplished health care leader with more than thirty years of significant, hands- on experience. For the past decade, he has lead the transformation, diversification, and growth of Magellan Health Services (NASDAQ: MGLN), serving first as President and Chief Operating Officer before being named Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. During his tenure, he operationally and financially transformed Magellan into a leading specialty health care company with revenue of more than $3 billion and a market cap of over $1.5 billion. In addition to his accomplishments at Magellan, Dr. Lerer’s extensive experience and expertise includes serving as Founder and President of the Internet Healthcare Group, serving as the Chief Operating Officer of Prudential Healthcare, and holding senior executive positions with Value Health, Value Health Sciences and The Travelers Companies. Dr. Lerer holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Psychobiology from Oberlin College, and a Doctor of Medicine Degree from the School of Medicine of the State University of New York at Buffalo.

Daniel Kazado is a Senior Advisor to Melini Capital, a family owned private and public equity firm investing internationally in several industries. Melini Capital has been an early and significant investor in Immune Pharmaceuticals. Mr. Kazado built his own management consulting firm over 15 years to 25 professionals advising boards of directors and senior management in multiple industries, and in 2002 sold the company to Altran Technologies, a global engineering and management consulting group with revenues of over ?¬1 billion. Mr. Kazado earned a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and a master’s degree in Management from Lyon University in France.

Daniel Teper, Pharm.D., M.B.A., Immune Pharmaceuticals’ Chairman and CEO, commented, “We are privileged to have an experienced and committed Board of Directors to provide Immune with corporate governance, and strategic, financial and operational guidance. Immune’s directors have a track record of helping create significant value for shareholders of fast growing companies in the biotech and healthcare industries.”

“I am very enthusiastic about joining the Board of Directors of Immune Pharmaceuticals and in helping the Company achieve its objectives,” said Dr. Lerer. “As a doctor and a health care executive, I believe strongly in the Company’s personalized approach to treating and developing therapeutics to help patients with inflammatory diseases and cancer. These are serious medical issues and Immune is taking an innovative approach by developing highly targeted antibodies to improve the lives of patients.”

The Company also announced today that the Board of Directors named the following members to lead roles with respect to its governance and committees:

  • David Sidransky, M.D., has been named Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors and Lead Independent Director. Dr. Sidransky is the former Vice Chairman of the Board of Imclone Systems (acquired by Eli Lilly), the Chairman of Champions Oncology, a director of Rosetta Genomics and a Professor of Medicine at John Hopkins University;
  • Ana Stancic, C.P.A., M.B.A., has been named Chair of the Audit Committee. Ms. Stancic was Audit Chair at Champions Oncology and held senior financial executive positions at public and private companies including Imclone Systems, Omrix (acquired by Johnson & Johnson) and Enzon;
  • Isaac Kobrin, M.D., has been named Chair of the Research & Development Committee. Dr. Kobrin is the former Chief Medical Officer of Actelion;
  • Rene Lerer, M.D., has been named Chair of the Governance and Nomination Committee.

About Immune Pharmaceuticals Inc.

Immune Pharmaceuticals Inc. (OTCQX and NASDAQ OMX Stockholm Exchange: IMNP) applies a personalized approach to treatment, developing novel, highly targeted antibody therapeutics to improve the lives of patients with inflammatory diseases and cancer. The Company’s lead product candidate, bertilimumab, is entering Phase II clinical studies for moderate-to-severe ulcerative colitis and bullous pemphigoid, with additional studies planned for Crohn’s disease and severe asthma. The Company is evaluating the use of its NanomAb® platform, a second generation antibody drug conjugate technology, with chemotherapeutics in order to enhance their safety and efficacy profiles by delivering the medicines directly to cancer cells. The Company’s growing oncology pipeline also includes proprietary antibodies and, clinical-stage small molecules that have been shown activity in a variety of solid tumors.

Immune is headquartered in Tarrytown, New York, with its primary research and development facilities in Herzliya-Pituach, Israel.

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Talent4Boards Team