WATERTOWN, Mass., Oct. 23, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Disc Medicine, Inc. (NASDAQ:IRON), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery, development, and commercialization of novel treatments for patients suffering from serious hematologic diseases, today announced the appointment of Rahul Rajan Kaushik, Ph.D. as the company’s Chief Technical Officer. Dr. Kaushik is an experienced biotech executive with significant expertise in chemistry, manufacturing, and controls (CMC) leadership across technical development, manufacturing and supply chain oversight for products in multiple modalities and therapeutic areas.

“Rahul’s experience is an ideal fit for Disc as we evolve into a late-stage development company,” said John Quisel, J.D., Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of Disc. “His depth of CMC expertise in multiple therapeutic modalities and track record of developing products through regulatory approval and commercialization will be fundamental assets as we continue to advance our pipeline. We are thrilled to welcome him to our leadership team.”

“I am excited to work with the talented team at Disc and build on their momentum established to date. It is a pivotal moment in the company’s history, with significant development milestones in the near term across all three clinical programs,” said Dr. Kaushik. “I am eager to contribute to Disc’s mission of providing meaningful, novel therapies to patients with high unmet medical need across diverse hematological conditions.”

Dr. Kaushik has more than 21 years of experience in pharmaceutical development, having held senior leadership positions at several top biotechnology companies. Most recently, he served on the executive team at FibroGen as Senior Vice President of Technical Operations, where he led process development, manufacturing and supply chain operations for all portfolio programs including BLA readiness for pamrevlumab and commercial manufacturing for Evrenzo® (roxadustat). Prior to joining FibroGen, Dr. Kaushik was the Executive Director and head of external manufacturing at Nektar Therapeutics, where he led CMC aspects including technology transfer, GMP manufacturing, process characterization and process validation of bempegaldesleukin, a PEGylated conjugate of IL-2. Prior to this, Dr. Kaushik spent over 15 years at Amgen, where he held a variety of leadership roles within CMC including formulation development, analytical development, process development, technology transfer, process characterization and PPQ oversight. Across these experiences, Dr. Kaushik was an integral part of teams that enabled the pharmaceutical development and regulatory approval for Repatha® (evolocumab), and Amgevita® (adalimumab-atto), contributed to CMC development of several agents into early and late-stage clinical trials, as well as provided scientific leadership for lifecycle management of commercial franchises including Kyprolis® (carfilzomib), Neulasta® (Pegfilgrastim) and Imlygic® (talimogene laherparepvac). He also led the team that created a state of the art, end-to-end pilot manufacturing facility to serve pipeline programs. Rahul graduated with an integrated bachelors plus master’s degree in Chemistry from I.I.T. Bombay in India as class valedictorian. He then obtained a full scholarship to pursue and complete his Ph.D. from Stanford University across the Chemistry and Biological Sciences departments, studying intracellular protein misfolding that was implicated in neurodegenerative disorders.

In connection with Dr. Kaushik’s appointment, on October 23, 2024, Disc granted to Dr. Kaushik an inducement equity award outside of Disc’s Amended and Restated 2021 Stock Option and Incentive Plan in accordance with Nasdaq Listing Rule 5635(c)(4), comprised of (i) an option to purchase 55,000 shares (the “Option Award”) of Disc’s common stock (“Common Stock”), at an exercise price equal to the closing price of the Common Stock on the date of grant, and (ii) a restricted stock unit award for 36,666 shares of Common Stock (the “RSU Award” and, together with the Option Award, the “Inducement Award”). The Option Award shall vest 25% on October 23, 2025, with the remainder vesting in 36 equal monthly installments thereafter. The RSU Award shall vest in equal installments on each of the first, second, third, and fourth anniversaries of the vesting date set by Disc’s company vesting policy. The Inducement Award was approved by the Compensation Committee of Disc’s Board of Directors.

About Disc Medicine

Disc Medicine is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company committed to discovering, developing, and commercializing novel treatments for patients who suffer from serious hematologic diseases. We are building a portfolio of innovative, potentially first-in-class therapeutic candidates that aim to address a wide spectrum of hematologic diseases by targeting fundamental biological pathways of red blood cell biology, specifically heme biosynthesis and iron homeostasis. For more information, please visit www.discmedicine.com.

Disc Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements        

This press release contains “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including, but not limited to, express or implied statements regarding Disc’s expectations with respect to the chief technical officer position, upcoming development milestones, and Disc’s related clinical development plans. The use of words such as, but not limited to, “believe,” “expect,” “estimate,” “project,” “intend,” “future,” “potential,” “look forward,” “continue,” “may,” “might,” “plan,” “will,” “should,” “seek,” “anticipate,” or “could” or the negative of these terms and other similar words or expressions that are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are neither historical facts nor assurances of future performance. Instead, they are based on Disc’s current beliefs, expectations and assumptions regarding the future of Disc’s business, future plans and strategies, clinical results and other future conditions. New risks and uncertainties may emerge from time to time, and it is not possible to predict all risks and uncertainties. No representations or warranties (expressed or implied) are made about the accuracy of any such forward-looking statements.

Disc may not actually achieve the plans, intentions or expectations disclosed in these forward-looking statements, and investors should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. Actual results or events could differ materially from the plans, intentions and expectations disclosed in the forward-looking statements as a result of a number of material risks and uncertainties including but not limited to: Disc’s expectations regarding the chief technical officer position; Disc’s expectations regarding leadership and future growth; Disc’s expectations regarding its research and development programs; Disc’s expectations of entering late-stage development; and the other risks and uncertainties described in Disc’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including in the “Risk Factors” section of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2023, and in subsequent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q. Any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date on which it was made. None of Disc, nor its affiliates, advisors or representatives, undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.

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