Dyadic International, Inc. (“Dyadic”, “we”, “us”, “our”, or the
“Company”) (NASDAQ: DYAI), a biotechnology company focused on the
efficient large-scale manufacture of proteins for use in human and
animal vaccines and therapeutics and for use in non-pharmaceutical
applications including food, nutrition, and wellness, today
announced that Michael Tarnok is stepping down as Chairman of
Dyadic’s board of directors (the “Board”) and that current member
of the Board Patrick Lucy has been appointed to succeed him, in
each case, effective immediately. Mr. Tarnok will continue to serve
as a director through the end of his current term, which will end
at the Company’s annual meeting in June 2025, at which time he
expects to retire. In addition, Dr. Barry Buckland announced that
he is retiring and therefore will not stand for re-election at the
Company’s annual meeting in June 2024. The Board has decided not to
fill the vacancy due to Dr. Buckland’s retirement which will result
in a reduction of the size of the Board from seven to six members.
Finally, Joseph Hazelton has been appointed Chief Operating
Officer, effective immediately, and will oversee the day-to-day
operations of the Company.
Mr. Lucy joined the Board in January 2021 and
serves on the company’s Science and Technology Committee. He is
currently the President and Chief Executive Officer of RoslinCT US,
a privately held cell therapy contract development and
manufacturing organization based in Hopkinton, Massachusetts and
Edinburgh, Scotland. Mr. Lucy has 33 years of experience in the
biotechnology industry, including a founder of Pfenex Inc., a
protein expression platform technology company that originated
within The Dow Chemical Company (“Dow”). He was a member of the
leadership team that led the commercial launch of the Pfenex
Expression Technology™ platform in 2005 and participated in the
spin out of the business from Dow in 2009 via a Series A venture
financing. Throughout Pfenex’s history, Mr. Lucy led
business/corporate development and portfolio strategy as Chief
Business Officer and was a member of the team that successfully
completed Pfenex’s initial public offering in 2014. During his
tenure at Pfenex, Mr. Lucy completed over $1.5 billion dollars of
partnership transactions, and Pfenex was ultimately acquired by
Ligand Pharmaceuticals in October 2020 for up to $512 million.
"I am excited to assume the role as Chairman of
the Dyadic board of directors. On behalf of the entire Dyadic team,
I would like to thank Mike Tarnok for his leadership as Chairman
over the past ten years,” said Mr. Lucy. “I believe that Dyadic is
poised to monetize the many scientific advances we have made with
our C1 gene expression system, including the completion of the
first Phase 1 clinical study in 2023, and our new Dapibus™ platform
that is focused on producing high value proteins for food,
nutrition, and wellness. I look forward to working with Mark
Emalfarb, our CEO, and Joe Hazelton in his new role as Chief
Operating Officer and the rest of our talented management team and
Board with a laser focus on maximizing shareholder value.”
Mark Emalfarb, Dyadic’s Chief Executive Officer
commented, “Patrick has been an outstanding board member over the
past three years and I am pleased that he has agreed to take on the
role as Board Chairman at a pivotal time for Dyadic. We are
accelerating commercialization of the C1 and Dapibus platforms for
pharmaceutical and nonpharmaceutical applications. Under Michael
Tarnok’s leadership, Dyadic has evolved from the industrial enzyme
business and has developed a flexible, safe, and highly efficient
platform for the development and production of biologics and we
believe we are now poised to deliver impactful advancements that
can potentially transform healthcare and food production. I could
not be more pleased that Mike has agreed to complete his current
term through June 2025, so we can continue to benefit from his
expertise and guidance.”
Mr. Emalfarb continued, “Barry has been an
invaluable member of our Science and Technology Committee and has
contributed greatly to the numerous scientific achievements we have
accomplished over the last six years. We will miss him and wish him
well in his future endeavors.”
Mr. Emalfarb concluded, “Joe has been
instrumental in refocusing the Company on core verticals with
shorter-term revenue opportunities, playing a vital role in
achieving strategic objectives. His promotion to Chief Operating
Officer is well-deserved, and I'm confident he will further enhance
Dyadic’s value by expanding the internal pipeline of high-value
biologic products and accelerating the commercialization of assets
like alpha-lactalbumin and recombinant human albumin.”
“I am very excited to take on these additional
responsibilities and have a more active role in overall corporate
direction and execution of our strategic business plans to
accelerate and exploit short-term revenue producing products and
opportunities for pharmaceutical and non-pharmaceutical
applications. I look forward to expanding our internal pipeline and
improving our capability to develop more rapid custom solutions for
collaborators and hastening the commercialization of current
assets,” said Joe Hazelton, Dyadic’s new Chief Operating
Officer.
About Dyadic International,
Inc.
Dyadic International, Inc., is a biotechnology
company focused on the efficient large-scale manufacture of
proteins for use in human and animal vaccines and therapeutics and
for use in non-pharmaceutical applications including food,
nutrition, and wellness.
Dyadic’s gene expression and protein production
platforms are based on the highly productive and scalable fungus
Thermothelomyces heterothallica (formerly Myceliophthora
thermophila). Our lead platform, C1-cell protein production
platform, is based on an industrially proven microorganism (named
C1), which is currently used to speed development, lower production
costs, and potentially improve performance of biologic vaccines and
drugs at flexible commercial scales for the human and animal health
markets. Dyadic has also developed the Dapibus™ filamentous
fungal based microbial protein production platform to enable the
rapid development and large-scale manufacture of low-cost proteins,
metabolites, and other biologic products for use in
non-pharmaceutical applications, such as food, nutrition, and
wellness.
Dyadic is focusing on leveraging its microbial
platform technologies for itself and its collaborators in a wide
range of applications, including human and animal vaccines,
therapeutics, food, nutrition, wellness, and internal biological
products.
To learn more about Dyadic please visit
http://www.dyadic.com.
Safe Harbor
Regarding Forward-Looking
Statements
This press release contains forward-looking
statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act
of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934,
including those regarding Dyadic International’s expectations,
intentions, strategies, and beliefs pertaining to future events or
future financial performance, such as the outcomes of the personnel
changes described herein, as well as the success of our protein
production platforms. Forward-looking statements generally can be
identified by use of the words “expect,” “should,” “intend,”
“anticipate,” “will,” “project,” “may,” “might,” “potential,” or
“continue” and other similar terms or variations of them or similar
terminology. Forward-looking statements involve many risks,
uncertainties or other factors beyond Dyadic’s control. These
factors include, but are not limited to, the following: (i) our
history of net losses; (ii) market and regulatory acceptance of our
microbial protein production platforms and other technologies;
(iii) competition, including from alternative technologies; (iv)
the results of nonclinical studies and clinical trials; (v) our
capital needs; (vi) changes in global economic and financial
conditions; (vii) our reliance on information technology; (viii)
our dependence on third parties; (ix) government regulations and
environmental, social and governance issues; and (x) intellectual
property risks. For a more complete description of the risks that
could cause our actual results to differ from our current
expectations, please see the section entitled “Risk Factors” in
Dyadic’s annual reports on Form 10-K and quarterly reports on Form
10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”), as
such factors may be updated from time to time in Dyadic’s periodic
filings with the SEC, which are accessible on the SEC’s website and
at www.dyadic.com. All forward-looking statements speak only as of
the date made, and except as required by applicable law, Dyadic
assumes no obligation to publicly update any such forward-looking
statements for any reason after the date of this press release to
conform these statements to actual results or to changes in our
expectations.
Contact:Dyadic International,
Inc.Ping W. RawsonChief Financial
OfficerPhone: (561)
743-8333Email:
ir@dyadic.com
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