ONK Therapeutics Brings in US Financial Experience with the Appointment of Dr. Allan Reine as Independent Non-Executive Director

• Allan Reine joins the Board as independent Non-Executive Director
• Brings significant experience as CFO of NASDAQ-listed biotechs, where he helped raise over $700 million
• Over 20 years in the biotechnology industry with relevant experiences as a biotech CFO, portfolio management, sell-side analyst and investment banking

GALWAY, Ireland and SAN DIEGO, March 23, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- ONK Therapeutics, an innovative company dedicated to developing optimally engineered natural killer (NK) cell therapies to cure patients with cancer, today announced that it has appointed Allan Reine as independent Non-Executive Director to its Board.

Dr. Reine brings significant experience to ONK Therapeutics' Board from both the life sciences industry and in financial services. His experience as Chief Financial Officer (CFO) at NASDAQ-listed biotech companies and as a life science investor will be invaluable to ONK as it executes on its growth ambitions, progressing its portfolio of NK cell therapies towards human clinical trials.

In addition, as part of his role on the Board of ONK Therapeutics, Dr. Reine will serve as Chair of the Audit Committee.

Dr. Reine currently serves as CFO at Foghorn Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: FHTX) where he helped lead the company's initial public offering (IPO). Prior to this, Dr. Reine was CFO of Pieris Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: PIRS). In these positions, Dr. Reine has been involved in over $700 million of equity and collaboration financing. Prior to his CFO roles, he gained over a decade of experience at New York based financial institutions, managing various healthcare portfolios focused on biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies, most recently at Lombard Odier Asset Management. He started his career at CIBC World Markets where he worked in both biotechnology investment banking and biotechnology equity research.

Dr. Reine received his M.D. from the University of Toronto and a Bachelor of Science in statistical sciences from the University of Western Ontario.

Welcoming Dr. Reine to the Board, Chairman of ONK Therapeutics, Hugh O'Dowd said, "ONK Therapeutics has made very significant progress in delivering against its ambition to establish a global leadership position within the off-the-shelf, NK cell therapy area. Following its recent $21.5 million series A funding and its CRISPR/Cas9 licensing agreement with Intellia Therapeutics, the company is both well financed and well equipped to expand its R&D and manufacturing, as it advances its exciting portfolio of pre-clinical assets through IND enabling studies."

Dr. Allan Reine, Non-Executive Director of ONK Therapeutics said, "I very much look forward to working with the Board and the Executive Team to support the company, and help steer it through its next stages of growth. I have been impressed by ONK's innovative approach to developing optimally engineered NK cell therapies which I believe have the potential to make a significant contribution to the growing arsenal of cell-based therapies to treat and even to cure cancer, offering new hope for patients."

About ONK Therapeutics – www.onktherapeutics.com

ONK Therapeutics is an innovative cell therapy company dedicated to developing the next generation of optimally engineered, off-the-shelf, natural killer (NK) cell therapies. With a growing pre-clinical pipeline targeting both hematological malignancies and solid tumors, ONK is advancing multiple cell therapy candidates towards the clinic, including its lead program, ONKT102, an optimized affinity CD38 CAR-NK product, intended for the treatment of patients with relapsed/ refractory multiple myeloma. Read about the pipeline here. 

The company's optimally engineered NK cell therapy platform utilizes a suite of proprietary gene edits and cell modification strategies to optimize cytotoxic potential, persistence and the metabolic health of NK cells, while reducing the potential for their exhaustion in the tumor microenvironment. These include CISH knockout (KO); the expression of high affinity, membrane bound, TNF-related apoptosis-inducing ligand variants (TRAILv) targeting DR5 or DR4; and the deletion of inhibitory receptors, including extracellular proteins for example CD96, and Siglec-7. Read about the platform here.

ONK Therapeutics is headquartered in the med-tech hub of Galway, Ireland, with a wholly-owned US subsidiary, ONK Therapeutics, Inc. based at JLabs @ San Diego. Shareholders include Acorn Bioventures, Cormorant Asset Management, ALSHC (principally Seamus Mulligan), and Enterprise Ireland.

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International
Sue Charles, Charles Consultants - +44 7968 726585 sue@charles-consultants.com

Ireland
Ray Gordon, Gordon MRM - +353 87 2417373 ray@gordonmrm.ie