Bellerophon Appoints Cardiopulmonary Disease Expert Wassim Fares, M.D., MSCR, as Chief Medical Officer

WARREN, N.J., Aug. 11, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Bellerophon Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: BLPH) (“Bellerophon” or the “Company”), a clinical-stage biotherapeutics company focused on developing treatments for cardiopulmonary and infectious diseases, announced today that it has appointed Wassim Fares, M.D., MSCR, as Chief Medical Officer.

“We are thrilled to welcome Wassim, a seasoned industry leader, to Bellerophon to lead our clinical development at such an important time for the company,” said Fabian Tenenbaum, Chief Executive Officer of Bellerophon. “Wassim’s deep cardiopulmonary disease expertise as a pulmonologist and principal clinical trial investigator will prove critical to Bellerophon as we advance our two late-stage INOpulse^® programs in Pulmonary Hypertension associated with Pulmonary Fibrosis (PH-PF) and COVID 19, as well as our other clinical-stage programs in sarcoidosis and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.”

Dr. Fares is a board-certified pulmonologist and intensive care specialist with over 20 years of experience as a physician, principal investigator, associate professor, and pharmaceutical industry executive. Most recently, Dr. Fares was Senior Medical Director at Janssen Pharmaceutical Company and a member of Janssen’s Pulmonary Hypertension therapeutic area development leadership team where he led developments across a broad range of potential indications, including fostering the design and execution of multiple Phase 1 through Phase 3 pivotal registration trials. Prior to Janssen, he consulted on clinical trial strategy for Actelion (Janssen/J&J), Bayer, Gilead, and United Therapeutics. Previously, Dr. Fares served in increasingly senior roles at Yale University, most recently as Director, a nationally-accredited Pulmonary Vascular Disease Center.

“I am excited to join the Bellerophon team and lead the clinical development of the Company’s promising INOpulse therapy program,” said Dr. Fares. “The compelling positive results from Bellerophon’s Phase 2 PH-PF trial as well as the patient outcomes observed in the Company’s completed COVID-19 Expanded Access Program, highlight INOpulse’s potential to improve outcomes for patients suffering from a number of pulmonary conditions. I look forward to supporting the Company in further advancing the ongoing COVID-19 COViNOX Phase 3 trial and initiating the Phase 3 REBUILD study in PH-PF.”

Dr. Fares completed his post-graduate fellowship program in Pulmonary Disease and Critical Care Medicine at the University of North Carolina and his residency in Internal Medicine at St. Vincent Charity Medical Center. He earned medical and undergraduate degrees from the American University of Beirut, and a master’s degree in clinical research from the University of North Carolina.

About Bellerophon
Bellerophon Therapeutics is a clinical-stage biotherapeutics company focused on developing innovative therapies that address significant unmet medical needs in the treatment of cardiopulmonary and infectious diseases. The Company is currently developing multiple product candidates under its INOpulse® program, a proprietary pulsatile nitric oxide delivery system. For more information, please visit www.bellerophon.com.

Forward-looking Statements
Any statements in this press release about Bellerophon’s future expectations, plans and prospects, including statements about the clinical development of its product candidates, regulatory actions with respect to the Company’s clinical trials and expectations regarding the sufficiency of the Company’s cash balance to fund clinical trials, operating expenses and capital expenditures, and other statements containing the words “anticipate,” “believe,” “continue,” “contemplate,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “may,” “plan,” “potential,” “predict,” “project,” “should,” “target,” “will,” “would,” and similar expressions, constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Actual results may differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors, including: the uncertainties inherent in the initiation of future clinical trials, availability and timing of data from ongoing and future clinical trials and the results of such trials, whether preliminary or interim results from a clinical trial will be predictive of the final results of that trial or whether results of early clinical trials will be indicative of the results of later clinical trials, expectations for regulatory approvals, the FDA’s substantial discretion in the approval process, availability of funding sufficient for our foreseeable and unforeseeable operating expenses and capital expenditure requirements and other factors discussed in the “Risk Factors” section of the Company’s most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and in subsequent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. In addition, any forward-looking statements included in this press release represent Bellerophon’s views only as of the date of this release and should not be relied upon as representing the Company’s views as of any subsequent date. The Company specifically disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking statements included in this press release.