– USA, CA – KBL Merger Corp. IV (NASDAQ: KBLM), a special purpose acquisition company that previously announced the signing of a definitive agreement to acquire 180 Life Sciences Corp., a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on the development of novel drugs that fulfill unmet needs in inflammatory diseases, fibrosis and pain, today announced the appointment of Professor Richard Barker, Dr. Larry Gold MD., Dr. Shoshana Shendelman PhD., and Donald McGovern Jr., to its Board of Directors, upon completion of the business combination.
180 Life Sciences is led by Dr. James Woody who previously served as the founding CEO of OncoMed Pharmaceuticals, as well as President and General Manager of Roche Bioscience. In addition, he served as Chief Scientific Officer and Senior Vice President of R&D for Centocor, where he led the team responsible for developing Remicade, the first of the TNF inhibitor biologics in collaboration with Prof. Sir Marc Feldmann, one of the founders and Co-Chairman of 180 Life Sciences.
Dr. James Woody, 180 Life Sciences CEO stated, “I’m pleased to welcome Richard, Larry, Shoshana and Donald to our Board of Directors. I have known Larry for many years, and I admire his brilliant work in building Somalogic into the premier worldwide protein identification company. Don and I worked on a biotech board together and his vast PWC international experience will be of immense value to 180 Life Sciences.
“Richard joins, recommended by Sir Marc Feldman, with his broad and skillful experience in science, management, and drug development, having served on the Celgene Board. Shoshana joins as the CEO of Applied Therapeutics, an enterprising biotechnology company she founded and has developed into a dynamic organization. Her recent successful experience in the financing arenas will be exceptionally valuable to our team.”
About Dr. Larry Gold
Dr. Larry Gold, Ph.D., is an internationally recognized scientist, member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences and biotech entrepreneur who founded NeXagen, Inc., which later became NeXstar Pharmaceuticals, Inc., and acquired by Gilead Sciences. Dr. Gold also co-founded the biotech company Synergen, Inc., that was later acquired by Amgen. He currently serves as Chairman of SomaLogic, a company that he founded and formerly served as CEO. He has taught at the University of Colorado Boulder since 1970 and served as Chair of the molecular, cellular and developmental biology department from 1988 to 1992.
About Dr. Shoshana Shendelman
Shoshana Shendelman, PhD is the Founder, CEO and Chair of the Board of Directors of Applied Therapeutics Inc. (Nasdaq: APLT), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing a pipeline of novel drug candidates against validated molecular targets in indications of high unmet medical need. Prior to founding Applied Therapeutics in 2016, she founded Clearpoint Strategy Group LLC, a boutique life sciences consulting firm, where she served as the Managing Director from July 2012 to December 2016, and served as a Senior Advisor from January 2017 to December 2018. Dr. Shendelman received her Ph.D. in Cellular, Molecular and Biophysical Studies from Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons. Dr. Shendelman is a member of the Board of Advisors of Columbia University Medical Center and Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians & Surgeons, where she serves on the Nominations Committee and the Committee on Innovation and Entrepreneurship.
About Professor Richard Barker
Professor Richard Barker is an internationally respected leader in healthcare and life sciences. He is the Founding Director of New Medicine Partners, a global firm assisting public and private sector organizations to accelerate the worldwide development and adoption of precision medicine. He is chairman of the South London Health Innovation Network. He also chairs Metadvice, an AI-based digital health company enabling personalized medicine in Europe and the US. He is a board member of Image Analysis, a UK company using MRI to quantify the impact of therapy on disease and also of Celgene, a major US-based bio-therapeutics company.
About Donald McGovern, Jr
Donald A. McGovern, Jr is the former Vice Chairman, Global Assurance, of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP. Through decades of leadership at PwC and board experience, Don brings wide-ranging operational, financial, accounting and audit and public company experience. He currently serves on the board of Cars.com. Don joined the board of Cars.com in May 2017 upon the spinout of Cars.com from Tegna creating a new public company listed on the NYSE. Don is chair of the Audit Committee and a member of the Compensation Committee at Cars.com, and a designated financial expert under SEC regulations. His past public board experience has been with CRH, plc. Don served two three-year terms (2013-2019) on the Board of CRH. During his tenure, he was Senior Independent Director, chair of the Remuneration Committee, a member of the Nomination Committee and of the Audit Committee and a designated financial expert under US SEC and UK FRC regulations.
About 180 Life Sciences Corp.
180 Life Sciences Corp. is a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on the development of novel drugs that fulfill unmet needs in inflammatory diseases, fibrosis and pain by leveraging the combined expertise of luminaries in therapeutics from Oxford University, the Hebrew University and Stanford University. 180 Life Sciences is leading the research into solving one of the world’s biggest drivers of disease – inflammation. The company is driving groundbreaking study into clinical programs, which are seeking to develop novel drugs addressing separate areas of inflammation for which there are no effective therapies. The company’s primary platform is a novel program to treat fibrosis and inflammation using anti-TNF, with its lead program in phase 2b/3 clinical trials.
For more information: https://www.180lifesciences.com/
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