MBF Therapeutics Announces the Appointment of Two New Board Members

November 19, 2020 – Ambler, PA – MBF Therapeutics, a leader in the development of next generation DNA-based immunotherapeutic vaccines, has announced that Aris Persidis, PhD, and Dhiren R. Thakker, PhD, have been appointed to the company’s board of directors.

Dr. Persidis joins MBF Therapeutics’ board of directors with more than 20 years of experience as an entrepreneur and innovator in big data and artificial intelligence (AI) gamification. Currently, he is the co-founder and president of Biovista, the big data/AI drug repositioning and precision medicine pioneer. Prior to Biovista, Dr. Persidis served as senior vice president of business development at Upstate (acquired by Serologicals) and vice president of business development at Serologicals (later acquired by Millipore). Dr. Persidis was also a member of the co-founding teams of Anadys (acquired by Roche) and Cellzome (acquired by GSK). He received a First-Class BS in biological chemistry from Essex University, UK, and a PhD in biochemistry from the University of Cambridge, UK.

Dr. Thakker is founding president and CEO of Med Aditus International, a nonprofit corporation that he launched in December, 2019, to improve availability of affordable and good quality medicines to underserved populations. He is Professor Emeritus at the University of North Carolina (UNC) Eshelman School of Pharmacy in Chapel Hill, where he served as a Distinguished Professor and administrator for nearly 24 years and he most recently served as interim Dean. Prior to joining UNC in 1996, Dr. Thakker’s experience includes eight years at Glaxo Inc. where he was director of the Drug Metabolism Department, four years at the FDA’s Center for Biologics, and eight years at the National Institutes of Health. He earned a BPharm from Bombay University, India, MS in Pharmaceutical Chemistry from Columbia University, New York, and PhD in Biochemistry from the University of Kansas at Lawrence.

"We are pleased to welcome Aris and Dhiren to the board of directors at this important stage in our company’s evolution," says MBF Therapeutics CEO Thomas Tillett. "As they are both highly respected industry leaders and outstanding in their respective fields, we look forward to their expert assistance in guiding MBF Therapeutics in the development and commercialization of our proprietary immunotherapy technology." Tillett adds, "Their expertise is especially valuable now as our current efforts include advancing a next-generation SARS-CoV-2 vaccine toward an investigational new drug."

About MBF Therapeutics: MBFT (www.mbftherapeutics.com) MBFT is a clinical-stage animal health company developing and commercializing proprietary checkpoint inhibitor immunotherapy technology for cancer and infectious diseases. T-cell activation precisely targets selected antigens associated with cancer cells or infectious pathogens while preventing T-cell exhaustion, thus, yielding a durable cell-mediated immunity. Exclusively licensed from the Wistar Institute in Philadelphia, PA, and combined with a proprietary nonviral delivery system, this is a platform technology from which multiple innovative products can be developed for veterinary use where cellular antigens are well defined.

Forward-Looking Statements: This press release contains “forward-looking statements” concerning the development of MBF Therapeutics products, the potential benefits and attributes of those products, and the company’s expectations regarding its prospects. Forward-looking statements are subject to risks, assumptions and uncertainties that could cause actual future events or results to differ materially from such statements. These statements are made as of the date of this press release. Actual results may vary. MBF Therapeutics undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements for any reason.