Harpoon Therapeutics Strengthens Leadership Team
James Bucher, J.D. joins as Chief Legal Officer
Wendy Chang promoted to Chief People Officer
SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., Dec. 26, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Harpoon Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: HARP), a clinical-stage immunotherapy company developing novel T cell engagers, today announced the appointment of James Bucher, J.D. as Chief Legal Officer, and the promotion of Wendy Chang, to Chief People Officer. Mr. Bucher and Ms. Chang are part of the executive management team and report directly to the Chief Executive Officer.
“I am delighted to welcome Jim to the Harpoon leadership team and announce Wendy’s promotion. I look forward to benefiting from Jim’s extensive experience as we continue to advance the clinical development of our T cell engagers and execute toward multiple milestones in the next year,” said Julie Eastland, Harpoon Therapeutics’ President and Chief Executive Officer. “Wendy has made an invaluable impact on our organization in a short period. Her promotion to Chief People Officer is a testament to her ability to lead people strategy aligned with Harpoon’s strong culture and our patient-centric mission.”
Mr. Bucher is a proven leader with over thirty years of legal expertise, including over ten years dedicated to senior roles in life science companies. Most recently, he served as Executive Vice President, General Counsel, and Head of Human Resources at Eliem Therapeutics. Mr. Bucher also served as Executive Vice President and General Counsel for Alder Biopharmaceuticals, held a senior legal position at Exelixis, consulted life sciences companies, and was a partner at Shearman & Sterling LLP. In his current role at Harpoon, Mr. Bucher is tasked with leading all legal aspects of the organization, including corporate governance, intellectual property, and compliance functions. Mr. Bucher received his J.D. with distinction from Emory University School of Law and his B.A. from Colgate University.
Ms. Chang joined Harpoon in 2022 as Senior Vice President of Human Resources, bringing more than twenty years of human resources experience in life sciences. Ms. Chang’s promotion to the role of Chief People Officer demonstrates her valuable contributions to the Company during her tenure, along with the organization’s commitment to its employees, corporate culture, and the future growth and development of its team. Ms. Chang has an extensive background in aligning talent with organizations’ overall vision and direction. Before joining Harpoon, she was Head of People and Culture at IDbyDNA; before that, she served as Vice President, Human Resources at Gilead Sciences. Ms. Chang earned a B.S. in accounting and business/management from the University of California, Riverside, and completed the Global Fellow of Talent Management program at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
Inducement Award under NASDAQ Listing Rule 5635(c)(4)
In connection with Mr. Bucher’s appointment, Harpoon Therapeutics granted him an inducement non-qualified stock option to purchase an aggregate of 110,000 shares of Harpoon’s common stock.
The stock option grant has an exercise price per share equal to $11.30, Harpoon’s closing trading price on Nasdaq on the grant date of December 21, 2023, and will vest over 4 years, with 1/4 of the underlying shares vesting on the one-year anniversary of the grant date and 1/36th of the underlying shares vesting monthly thereafter over 36 months, subject to Mr. Bucher’s 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. Bucher’s employment in accordance with Nasdaq Listing Rule 5635(c)(4).
About Harpoon Therapeutics
Harpoon Therapeutics is a clinical-stage immunotherapy company developing a novel class of T cell engagers designed to 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.
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. 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.
Contact:
Ana Kapor
Harpoon Therapeutics
investors@harpoontx.com
