SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., Aug. 01, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Harpoon Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: HARP), a clinical-stage immuno-oncology company developing novel T cell engagers, today announced the appointment of Haibo Wang as Senior Vice President of Business Development. Mr. Wang brings 15 years of biopharma business development, finance, and mergers and acquisitions (M&A) transaction experience to Harpoon.

"We are pleased to welcome Haibo as Senior Vice President of Business Development at Harpoon,” said Julie Eastland, President and CEO of Harpoon Therapeutics. “Haibo's extensive experience and strategic acumen will play a pivotal role in driving our business growth and forging impactful partnerships. We are confident that his expertise and understanding of targets such as BCMA and DLL3 will contribute significantly to our mission to transform cancer treatment through the power of T cell engagers."

Mr. Wang most recently served as Vice President of Business Development at Hummingbird Bioscience where he was responsible for the company’s end-to-end business development activities. Prior to Hummingbird, Mr. Wang was Director of Business Development at Amgen, where he played a major role in the Teneobio and Five Prime Therapeutics acquisitions, the oncology collaboration with BeiGene, and many clinical collaborations to advance Amgen’s oncology pipeline. Prior to Amgen, Mr. Wang was an M&A consultant at Deloitte, advising on numerous transactions in the healthcare and tech sectors in China. He received his M.S. in Biotechnology from Johns Hopkins University, MBA from Duke University, and B.S. from Tsinghua University.

Inducement Award under NASDAQ Listing Rule 5635(c)(4)

In connection with Mr. Wang’s appointment, Harpoon Therapeutics granted him an inducement non-qualified stock option to purchase an aggregate of 200,000 shares of Harpoon’s common stock.

The stock option grant has an exercise price per share equal to $0.78, Harpoon’s closing trading price on Nasdaq on the grant date, July 31, 2023, and will vest over four years, with 1/4 of the underlying shares vesting on the one-year anniversary of the grant date and the remainder of the underlying shares vesting monthly thereafter in equal installments over 36 months, subject to his continued service relationship with Harpoon through the applicable vesting dates.

The independent directors of Harpoon’s Board of Directors approved the award as an inducement material to Mr. Wang’s employment in accordance with Nasdaq Listing Rule 5635(c)(4).

About Harpoon Therapeutics

Harpoon Therapeutics is a clinical-stage immuno-oncology company developing a novel class of T cell engagers that harness the power of the body’s immune system to treat patients suffering from cancer and other diseases. T cell engagers are engineered proteins that direct a patient’s own T cells to kill target cells that express specific proteins, or antigens, carried by the target cells. Using its proprietary Tri-specific T cell Activating Construct (TriTAC^®) platform, Harpoon is developing a pipeline of novel TriTACs initially focused on the treatment of solid tumors and hematologic malignancies. Harpoon has also developed a proprietary ProTriTAC™ platform, which applies a prodrug concept to its TriTAC platform to create a therapeutic T cell engager that remains inactive until it reaches the tumor. Harpoon’s third proprietary technology platform, extended release TriTAC-XR, is designed to mitigate cytokine release syndrome. For additional information about Harpoon Therapeutics, please visit www.harpoontx.com and follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn.

Cautionary Note on Forward-looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Words such as “continue,” “will” and similar expressions (as well as other words or expressions referencing future events, conditions or circumstances) are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are based on Harpoon Therapeutics’ expectations and assumptions as of the date of this press release. Each of these forward-looking statements involves risks and uncertainties that could cause Harpoon Therapeutics’ clinical development programs, future results or performance to differ significantly from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements contained in this press release include, but are not limited to, statements relating to the effects of advancing Harpoon Therapeutics’ platforms, the company’s future business growth and partnerships, expectations regarding strengthening the company’s business team and other statements that are not historical fact. These and other factors that may cause Harpoon Therapeutics’ actual results to differ from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements in this press release are discussed in Harpoon Therapeutics’ filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, including under “Risk Factors” in Harpoon Therapeutics’ quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2023, and future filings by Harpoon Therapeutics. Except as required by law, Harpoon Therapeutics assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements contained herein to reflect any change in expectations, even as new information becomes available.

Contacts:

ICR Westwicke:
Robert H. Uhl
Managing Director
858-356-5932
robert.uhl@westwicke.com