Akari Therapeutics announced Dr. David Horn Solomon will be appointed the company's new chief executive officer (CEO), effective August 28, 2017.

"I am very pleased that David will be joining Akari and that we have been successful in attracting a person of his calibre, with over 20 years of leadership experience in the biotechnology industry," said Ray Prudo, M.D., Executive Chairman of Akari. "David has a strong track record of leading phase II-stage companies like Akari, most notably, at Zealand Pharma where he led the development of lixisenatide, which is now commercialized by Sanofi."

Akari is focused on the development and commercialization of treatments for a range of rare and orphan autoimmune and inflammatory diseases caused by the dysregulation of complement C5 and/or leukotriene B4 (LTB4).

"I am excited by Akari's growing and diversified discovery platform and its clinical programs in the complement mediated diseases, PNH (paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria) and aHUS (atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome)," said Solomon. "I believe Akari's lead compound, Coversin, with its dual binding sites also has potential in a wide range of other diseases where both the complement and leukotriene pathways are implicated including atopic keratoconjunctivitis in the eye and bullous pemphigoid in the skin".

"Akari is building momentum in its research programs and this is a hugely exciting time to join and help advance its products," added Solomon who will be based at Akari's corporate headquarters in New York City.

Dr David Horn Solomon was the CEO of Zealand Pharma from 2008 to 2015. Under David's leadership the company went public on NASDAQ OMX in Copenhagen and its lead product, Adlixin, a GLP-1 receptor agonist for the treatment of type II diabetes, was approved in the US and globally and is now marketed by Sanofi as a monotherapy and in combination with Lantus as Soliqua. David was also the CEO of Bionor Pharma and until his appointment at Akari was the Managing Partner of Sund Capital, a Nordic healthcare investment fund. Dr. Solomon studied at Weil Cornell Medicine of Cornell University and its Graduate School of Medical Science where he received his Ph.D.