Akari Therapeutics, Plc announced the appointment of Melissa Bradford-Klug as Chief Operating Officer, effective July 1, 2022. In this position, she will lead business development, including financing and partnering strategies, acceleration of prioritized nomacopan late-stage and preclinical development programs, as well as other business operations. Ms. Klug has more than 25 years of experience as a leader within companies ranging from large global healthcare organizations to biotech startups.

She has a strong track record of developing and executing capital markets strategies for private and public companies, as well as experience in operations management and corporate and business development. Prior to joining Akari Therapeutics, Ms. Klug was President and Chief Business Officer at RareStone Group, where she led identification and execution of strategic transactions for rare disease development programs for the China market. As co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of the women's health startup, Mayfield Pharmaceuticals (now Harrow Health), she created the company's strategy, secured funding, drove clinical development and oversaw operations.

Ms. Klug has a strong track record of successful fundraising, global acquisitions, licensing, and development collaborations. She has held senior strategy and corporate/business development roles at Keryx Biopharmaceuticals, AMAG Pharmaceuticals, Mallinckrodt and Baxter International. She also has held commercial and research and development positions at Eli Lilly and Company and Monsanto.

Ms. Klug is a member of the MassBio Board of Directors and Gender Diversity Committee and is a MassConnect mentor. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry from Maryville University in St. Louis, Missouri and an MBA from DePaul University in Chicago, Illinois.