Additions Bring Extensive Capital Markets and Business Transaction Expertise to Company as it Advances Pegtarazimod into Late-Stage Clinical Trials
NORFOLK, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--ReAlta Life Sciences Inc., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on safely targeting neutrophils and central components of the complement system to revolutionize the treatment of inflammatory disorders, today announced the appointments of Howard Berman, Ph.D., as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer and Kia Motesharei, Ph.D., as President and Chief Operating Officer.
Dr. Berman, who has served as Executive Chairman since November 2025, will lead ReAlta’s overall strategy, clinical development, and corporate execution, while Dr. Motesharei, who was recently appointed to the company’s board of directors, will oversee operations, business development, and strategic partnerships. The additions bring to ReAlta’s leadership team industry expertise that is important to the company’s next stage of growth with a focus on the late-stage clinical development of pegtarazimod for the treatment of Hypoxic Ischemic Encephalopathy (HIE) and other indications.
"We have assembled a team that has built, financed, and led companies from clinical development all the way through to commercial launch,” said Dr. Berman. “Kia brings a unique combination of transaction expertise, capital markets experience, and operational leadership that will be instrumental in accelerating our growth. My experience is in building and managing biopharma businesses through critical stages of development. I look forward to working with Kia and other members of our team to maximize value for our shareholders while advancing what we believe is a potentially groundbreaking therapy for HIE and other inflammatory diseases."
Dr. Berman has more than 20 years of biopharmaceutical industry leadership experience spanning company formation, clinical development, strategic partnerships, and public market execution across multiple therapeutic areas, including immunology and neuroscience. Prior to joining ReAlta, he was the Chief Executive Officer of Coya Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: COYA), a regulatory T cell therapeutics-focused company that he founded and led through its initial public offering on NASDAQ, multiple rounds of financing, and subsequent business development transactions with strategic pharmaceutical partners of up to $700 million. Dr. Berman currently serves as Coya’s Executive Chairman. Under his leadership, Coya has advanced multiple clinical programs in neurodegenerative diseases, including a potentially pivotal trial in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and a Phase 2 trial in frontotemporal dementia (FTD). He also serves on the board of directors of Atea Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: AVIR) and as a Board Observer at Mammogen Inc. Earlier in his career, Dr. Berman held senior leadership roles at AbbVie Inc., Eli Lilly and Co., and Novartis AG, where he contributed to the commercial launches of several blockbuster therapies in oncology and neuroscience. Dr. Berman holds a bachelor’s degree in biology from the University of Michigan and an MSc. and Ph.D. in neuroscience and pharmacology from Weill Cornell Medical College.
Dr. Motesharei is a seasoned biopharmaceutical business development executive with a global network and a proven deal track record, having completed more than 100 transactions across licensing, mergers and acquisitions, financings, and strategic partnerships. He has held senior corporate development, licensing, and investor relations leadership roles at Madrigal Pharmaceuticals Inc., Formation Bio Inc., Akcea Therapeutics Inc., Merck KGaA, Dyax Corp., and GENFIT S.A.
Most recently and before joining Formation, Dr. Motesharei led business development and investor relations for Madrigal, where he played a key role in raising more than $1 billion in capital, supporting the FDA approval of Rezdiffra®, the first approved therapy for NASH/MASH, and helping drive a market capitalization increase from approximately $800 million to more than $7 billion. Earlier in his career, he helped to reposition GENFIT’s lead drug development program from atherosclerosis to NASH, contributing to a market capitalization increase from approximately $110 million to more than $1.2 billion. At Dyax, he supported the development of Takhzyro®, a next-generation hereditary angioedema therapy that ultimately led to the company’s $6.5 billion acquisition by Shire plc. Dr. Motesharei earned a B.A. in Chemistry from Colorado College and holds a Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from the University of California, Los Angeles. He also completed an NIH postdoctoral fellowship at The Scripps Research Institute.
About ReAlta Life Sciences
ReAlta Life Sciences Inc. is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company redefining the treatment possibilities for patients with devastating and historically untreatable inflammation-driven diseases. The company is focused on developing first-in-class tailored peptides, including lead candidate pegtarazimod (RLS-0071), a next-generation, dual-targeting intervention that rebalances the body’s inflammatory response and prevents tissue damage by selectively blocking both complement- and neutrophil-mediated pathways at the outset, disrupting inflammation at the core. To learn more about ReAlta, visit https://realtalifesciences.com and follow us on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/realta-life-sciences-inc/.
About RLS-0071 (pegtarazimod)
Pegtarazimod is a 15-amino-acid peptide that uniquely targets both humoral and cellular inflammation and is the Company’s lead therapeutic candidate. The peptide works by inhibiting complement activation at C1, as well as myeloperoxidase activity and neutrophil extracellular trap (NET) formation—key mechanisms implicated in the inflammatory cascade underlying a broad range of diseases driven by dysregulated neutrophils and complement activity. Pegtarazimod was derived from a mechanistic discovery of the human astrovirus HAstV-1, a virus known to cause non-inflammatory gastroenteritis, which provided a novel scaffold for innate immune modulation. Across multiple clinical studies in healthy volunteers and patients with life-threatening inflammatory conditions, pegtarazimod has demonstrated a favorable tolerability profile and encouraging clinical signals, supporting its development in acute inflammatory diseases with significant unmet medical need. Pegtarazimod has received FDA Orphan Drug and Fast Track Designations for Hypoxic Ischemic Encephalopathy (HIE), EMA Orphan Drug Designation for HIE, FDA Orphan Drug and Fast Track Designations for acute Graft versus Host Disease, and EMA Orphan Drug Designation for acute Graft versus Host Disease.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains "forward-looking" statements that are based on our management's beliefs and assumptions and on information currently available to management. Forward-looking statements include all statements other than statements of historical fact contained in this presentation, including information concerning our current and future financial performance, business plans and objectives, current and future clinical and preclinical development activities, timing and success of our ongoing and planned clinical trials and related data, the timing of announcements, updates and results of our clinical trials and related data, our ability to obtain and maintain regulatory approval, the potential therapeutic benefits and economic value of our product candidates, competitive position, industry environment and potential market opportunities. The words "believe," "may," "will," "estimate," "continue," "anticipate," "intend," "expect," and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements.
Forward-looking statements are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other factors including, but not limited to, those related to risks associated with the impact of COVID-19; the success, cost and timing of our product candidate development activities and ongoing and planned clinical trials; our plans to develop and commercialize targeted therapeutics; the progress of patient enrollment and dosing in our preclinical or clinical trials; the ability of our product candidates to achieve applicable endpoints in the clinical trials; the safety profile of our product candidates; the potential for data from our clinical trials to support a marketing application, as well as the timing of these events; our ability to obtain funding for our operations; development and commercialization of our product candidates; the timing of and our ability to obtain and maintain regulatory approvals; the rate and degree of market acceptance and clinical utility of our product candidates; the size and growth potential of the markets for our product candidates, and our ability to serve those markets; our commercialization, marketing and manufacturing capabilities and strategy; future agreements with third parties in connection with the commercialization of our product candidates; our expectations regarding our ability to obtain and maintain intellectual property protection; our dependence on third party manufacturers; the success of competing therapies or products that are or may become available; our ability to attract and retain key scientific or management personnel; our ability to identify additional product candidates with significant commercial potential consistent with our commercial objectives; and our estimates regarding expenses, future revenue, capital requirements and needs for additional financing.
We have based these forward-looking statements largely on our current expectations and projections about future events and trends that we believe may affect our financial condition, results of operations, business strategy, short-term and long-term business operations and objectives, and financial needs. Moreover, we operate in a very competitive and rapidly changing environment, and new risks may emerge from time to time. It is not possible for our management to predict all risks, nor can we assess the impact of all factors on our business or the extent to which any factor, or combination of factors, may cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statements we may make. In light of these risks, uncertainties and assumptions, the forward-looking events and circumstances discussed herein may not occur and actual results could differ materially and adversely from those anticipated or implied in the forward-looking statements. Although our management believes that the expectations reflected in our forward-looking statements are reasonable, we cannot guarantee that the future results, levels of activity, performance or events and circumstances described in the forward-looking statements will be achieved or occur. We undertake no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statements, whether written or oral, that may be made from time to time, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise.
Contacts
John Rickman
Chief Financial Officer
jrickman@realtals.com
