Landos Names Gregory Oakes President and Chief Executive Officer

Rhea-AI Summary

Landos Biopharma (NASDAQ: LABP) has appointed Gregory Oakes as President and CEO, effective immediately. Oakes brings over 25 years of pharmaceutical experience, previously serving at Vifor Pharma and Amgen, among others. The company remains on track to finalize clinical development plans for key product candidates, including omilancor and LABP-104, later this year. Chairman Chris Garabedian highlighted Oakes' strong background in inflammation and immunology, aiming to deliver value for shareholders and improve patient outcomes in autoimmune diseases.

Positive

• Appointment of industry veteran Gregory Oakes as CEO, bringing over 25 years of experience.
• Oakes' expertise in commercialization and clinical strategy is expected to drive growth.
• Continued focus on clinical-stage product candidates indicates potential for future revenue.

Negative

• Interim CEO Tim M. Mayleben's previous tenure highlights potential instability in leadership.

Seasoned Pharmaceutical Executive Brings 25+ Years of Experience With a Focus on Successful Commercialization

Company Remains On Track to Complete Review of Clinical Development Plans Later This Year

NEW YORK, June 21, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Landos Biopharma, Inc. (NASDAQ: LABP), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing novel, oral medicines for patients with autoimmune diseases, today announced that Gregory Oakes has been named President and Chief Executive Officer, and has been appointed to the Landos Board of Directors, effective immediately. Tim M. Mayleben, who has been serving as interim President and Chief Executive Officer since November 2021, will continue to serve as a member of the Company’s Board of Directors.

Mr. Oakes is an accomplished pharmaceutical industry executive bringing more than 25 years of experience to Landos. He most recently served as President, North America, Executive Vice President and member of the Executive Committee of Vifor Pharma and previously held leadership roles at Amgen, Celgene Corporation, Novartis International AG and Schering-Plough (Merck). He brings deep expertise in supporting development stage programs, from optimizing clinical strategy and competitive positioning to achieving successful commercialization. He also has extensive experience in pricing, access and reimbursement, strategic partnerships and driving profitability for small, mid-sized and large pharmaceutical companies.

“Following a comprehensive and thoughtful search process, we are thrilled to name Greg as President and CEO of Landos,” said Chris Garabedian, Chairman of the Board. “Greg is an industry veteran with a proven track record of developing and commercializing innovative products for multiple therapeutic areas and delivering value for shareholders and patients alike. We are excited to leverage Greg’s strong background in inflammation and immunology as we refine and finalize developments plans for our three clinical-stage product candidates – omilancor, NX-13 and LABP-104.”

“I am honored to be joining Landos at such a pivotal time for the Company,” said Mr. Oakes. “With a promising pipeline of clinical-stage assets and a sharpened focus on pursuing the most promising target indications, Landos has a strong foundation in place. I believe that Landos has the potential to change the lives of patients suffering from autoimmune diseases, and I’m excited about the tremendous clinical and commercial opportunities ahead of us. I look forward to working with and growing Landos’ talented team to deliver on our mission of addressing the therapeutic gap for patients with autoimmune diseases.”

Mr. Garabedian continued, “We thank Tim for his leadership over the last seven months in refocusing and reprioritizing Landos’ key initiatives and establishing a solid foundation for driving future value. We look forward to continuing to benefit from his experience and insights as a member of our Board. With new leadership in place and continued progress in the Board’s strategic review of Landos’ programs, we remain on track to provide a comprehensive update on our clinical development plans and progress later this year.”

About Gregory Oakes
Mr. Oakes has more than 25 years of experience creating value for small, mid-sized and large pharmaceutical companies. Prior to joining Landos, he served as President, North America, Executive Vice President and member of the Executive Committee of Vifor Pharma since 2020. Previously, he served as Corporate Vice President and Global Integration Lead for Otezla^® at Amgen from 2019 to 2020, overseeing the integration of the $2 billion brand acquired from Celgene, and positioning it for sustained growth. Mr. Oakes served as Corporate Vice President and US General Manager, U.S. Inflammation and Immunology, at Celgene from 2017 to 2019. While at Celgene, Mr. Oakes also helped steer the $74 billion acquisition by Bristol-Myers Squibb and the $13.4 billion divestiture of Otezla. Prior to Celgene, Mr. Oakes held several positions at Novartis, including Head of Sandoz Biopharmaceuticals, North America and Senior Vice President, Market Access and Primary Care. He began his career at Schering-Plough where he held executive roles both in the U.S. and Europe. He currently sits on the Boards of BioNJ and Defender Pharmaceuticals. In addition, Mr. Oakes serves on Clemson University’s Department of Management Advisory Board at the Wilbur O. and Ann Powers College of Business. Mr. Oakes previously served on the Board of First Wave Biopharma, Inc. and United Way of Northern New Jersey, and also served on various Executive Committees at Celgene, Novartis and Schering-Plough.

Mr. Oakes holds a bachelor’s degree in Marketing and Business Administration from Edinboro University, and an M.B.A. from Clemson University.

About Landos Biopharma
Landos Biopharma is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development of oral therapeutics for patients with autoimmune diseases. We believe we were the first to identify and target LANCL2, NLRX1 and PLXDC2, which are immunometabolic pathways or targets. Our core expertise is the discovery of novel pathways at the interface of immunity and metabolism. We leverage our proprietary advanced artificial intelligence-based integrated computational and experimental precision medicine platform, our LANCE platform, to identify novel therapeutic targets based on predictions of immunometabolic function. We then identify and create novel therapeutic candidates to engage those novel targets in areas of unmet medical need. We have identified seven novel immunometabolic pathways or targets. Our near-term focus is on our clinical-stage programs including omilancor for the treatment of UC, NX-13 for the treatment of UC and LABP-104 for the potential treatment of SLE and/or RA.

For more information, please visit www.landosbiopharma.com.

Cautionary Note on Forward-Looking Statements
Any statements in this press release about future expectations, plans and prospects for Landos Biopharma, Inc. (the “Company”), including statements about the Company’s research, development and regulatory plans for its product candidates; the Company’s future expectations and plans and prospects for the Company; the potential of the Company’s pipeline programs; and other statements containing the words “subject to”, “believe”, “anticipate”, “plan”, “expect”, “intend”, “estimate”, “project”, “may”, “will”, “should”, “would”, “could”, “can”, the negatives thereof, variations thereon and similar expressions, or by discussions of strategy constitute forward-looking statements. Actual results may differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors, including: availability and timing of data from ongoing clinical trials, expectations for initiating future clinical trials, expectations for regulatory approvals, other matters that could affect the availability or commercial potential of the Company’s product candidates, the risk that positive results in a clinical trial may not be replicated in subsequent or confirmatory trials or success in early stage clinical trials may not be predictive of results in later stage or large scale clinical trials or trials in other potential indications, risks relating to management and key personnel changes and other similar risks, which are described in more detail in the Company’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”), including in its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2021 and subsequent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q. Additional information will be made available in other filings that the Company makes from time to time with the SEC. In addition, the forward-looking statements included in this press release represent the Company’s views only as of the date hereof. The Company anticipates that subsequent events and developments will cause the Company’s views to change. However, while the Company may elect to update these forward-looking statements at some point in the future, the Company specifically disclaims any obligation to do so, except as may be required by law. These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing the Company’s views as of any date subsequent to the date hereof.

Contacts

Andi Rose / Tanner Kaufman / Kara Sperry
Joele Frank, Wilkinson Brimmer Katcher
212-355-4449

FAQ

Who is the new CEO of Landos Biopharma?

Gregory Oakes has been appointed as the new CEO of Landos Biopharma.

What is Landos Biopharma focused on?

Landos Biopharma is focused on developing oral therapies for autoimmune diseases.

What are the clinical-stage candidates of Landos Biopharma?

Key candidates include omilancor, NX-13, and LABP-104.

When will Landos Biopharma provide updates on its clinical development plans?

Landos Biopharma plans to provide updates on clinical development plans later this year.