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Exhibit 10.1

May 13, 2023

Re:      Agreement regarding Employment Terms

Dear Christal:

This letter confirms the agreement between you and Zevra Therapeutics, Inc., f/k/a KemPharm, Inc. (the “Company”) to modify certain terms of your employment during your period of service as interim Chief Executive Officer and President of the Company. Reference is made to the Employment Agreement, dated as of May 30, 2014, by and between you and the Company, as amended (the “Employment Agreement”).  Capitalized terms used but not defined in this letter have the meanings given in the Employment Agreement.

Title and Responsibilities. Effective as of June 1, 2023 (the “Transition Date”) and ending on the date that a new Chief Executive Officer of the Company is appointed, or such other date that the Board of Directors determines (such term, the “Transition Term”), you agree to serve as the Company’s interim Chief Executive Officer and President, with such responsibilities, duties and authority normally associated with such position. During the Transition Term, you will report to the Board of Directors and will dedicate your business time to the affairs of the Company as is reasonably necessary to perform your duties as interim Chief Executive Officer and President. For the avoidance of doubt, during the Transition Term you will also continue to serve as the Company’s Chief Development Officer.

Salary and Benefits. During the Transition Term, your Base Salary will be paid at an annual rate of $512,000 (which for the avoidance of doubt is in lieu of, and not in addition to, the Base Salary amount otherwise provided under the Employment Agreement and payable during the Transition Term), prorated for any partial period of service and less applicable withholdings, payable on a monthly or more frequent periodic basis in accordance with the normal payroll practices of the Company. The Target Annual Bonus amount will remain the same as the amount in effect immediately prior to the Transition Date. During the Transition Term, you will continue to be eligible to participate in the same employee benefit plans that you participated in on the Transition Date, subject to the terms and conditions of such plans.

Following expiration of the Transition Term, the terms of your employment shall revert to those in the Employment Agreement as in effect on the Transition Date, which you agree will not constitute Good Reason under the Employment Agreement. This letter agreement represents the entire agreement between the parties hereto regarding the subject matter hereof and supersedes any prior written or oral agreements regarding such subject matter.  Except as otherwise provided in this letter, the Employment Agreement will remain in full force and effect in accordance with its terms. 

[Signature Page Follows]

Please indicate your agreement to the foregoing by returning a countersigned copy of this letter to the Company. Thank you for your continued service to the Company.

Sincerely,

ZEVRA THERAPEUTICS, INC.

By:  /s/ R. LaDuane Clifton                                                               

Name: R. LaDuane Clifton, CPA

Title: Chief Financial Officer, Secretary and Treasurer

ACKNOWLEDGED AND AGREED:

_/s/ Christal M.M. Mickle________________________________

Christal M.M. Mickle

Exhibit 99.1

Zevra Therapeutics Reports Corporate Updates and First Quarter 2023 Financial Results

Christal Mickle, Co-Founder and Chief Development Officer, appointed to serve as interim

President and CEO effective June 1, 2023

Conference call and live audio webcast with slide presentation scheduled for today, May 15,

2023, 4:30 p.m. ET 

Celebration, FL – May 15, 2023 – Zevra Therapeutics, Inc. (NasdaqGS: ZVRA) (Zevra, or the Company, formerly KemPharm, Inc.), a rare disease therapeutics company, today provided corporate updates and reported its financial results for the quarter ended March 31, 2023.

“Zevra is moving at full speed as a company strategically focused on developing and commercializing novel therapeutics designed to address the unmet needs of people with rare diseases,” said Christal Mickle, Chief Development Officer of Zevra Therapeutics. “To this end, we continue to advance arimoclomol, our NDA-stage investigational product candidate for Niemann-Pick disease type C (NPC) as we complete our preparation of the NDA for resubmission. KP1077, our lead clinical candidate for treating idiopathic hypersomnia (IH), is advancing with plans to expand into narcolepsy.”  

LaDuane Clifton, Chief Financial Officer, added, “Our pipeline development efforts are supported by a strong financial foundation with growing revenues from AZSTARYS® royalties and potential milestone payments, as well as from the arimoclomol early access program in France. With $95.3 million in cash, cash equivalents, and investments as of March 31, 2023, our cash runway is expected to extend into 2026."

Recent Business and Corporate Highlights:

Overview of Q1 2023 Financial Results:

Net revenue for Q1 2023 was $2.9 million compared to Q1 2022 net revenue of $4.0 million. Ongoing reimbursements from the French early access program for arimoclomol, AZSTARYS® royalty revenues, and consulting fees primarily drove Q1 2023 net revenue.

Research and development (R&D) expenses were $8.8 million for Q1 2023, compared to $3.1 million in Q1 2022. The increase in R&D expenses were primarily driven by expanding activity for the KP1077 clinical development program and the addition of the arimoclomol program in Q2 2022. 

General and administrative (G&A) expenses were $6.8 million for Q1 2023, compared to $2.7 million in Q1 2022. The period-over-period increase was primarily related to the arimoclomol acquisition, which led to an increase in compensation costs, as well as increased professional fees and depreciation and amortization expenses beginning in Q2 2022. 

Net loss attributable to common stockholders for Q1 2023 was ($11.8) million, or ($0.34) per basic and diluted share, compared to a net loss attributable to common stockholders of ($1.9) million, or ($0.05) per basic and diluted share for the same period in 2022.   

During Q1 2023, the Company repurchased 665,739 shares of the Company’s common stock for approximately $3.4 million, at an average price of $5.09 per share. Approximately $39.1 million remains available under the Share Repurchase Program as of March 31, 2023.

As of March 31, 2023, total cash, cash equivalents, and investments were $95.3 million, a decrease of $7.6 million compared to $102.9 million as of December 31, 2022. The decrease was driven, in part, by increased third-party R&D costs related to the KP1077 clinical trial program and the arimoclomol program, increased G&A expenses, and share repurchases during the period. 

Based on the Company’s current operating forecast, existing cash, cash equivalents, and investments are expected to be sufficient to continue operations into 2026.  The operating forecast includes the remaining activities required to resubmit the arimoclomol NDA, funding of the commercial preparation for potential launch of arimoclomol in the U.S., if approved, completion of the development program for KP1077 in IH, including preparation and submission of the NDA and up to the potential PDUFA date. 

As of March 31, 2023, the total shares of common stock outstanding were 33,881,804, and the fully diluted common shares outstanding was 49,307,811, which included 4,252,490 shares issuable upon exercise of warrants. 

Conference Call Information:

Zevra will host a conference call and live audio webcast with a slide presentation today at 4:30 p.m. ET, to discuss its corporate and financial results for Q1 2023.

The audio webcast with slide presentation will be accessible via the Investor Relations section of the Company’s website, http://investors.zevra.com/. An archive of the webcast and presentation will be available for 90 days beginning at approximately 5:30 p.m. ET, on May 15, 2023.

Additionally, interested participants and investors may access conference call by dialing either:

About Zevra:                    

Zevra Therapeutics is a rare disease company melding science, data, and patient need to create transformational therapies for diseases with limited or no treatment options.  With unique, data-driven clinical, regulatory, and commercialization strategies, the Company is overcoming complex drug development challenges to bring much-needed therapies to patients. 

Arimoclomol, Zevra’s orally-delivered, first-in-class investigational product candidate for the treatment of Niemann-Pick disease type C (NPC), has been granted orphan drug designation, Fast Track designation, Breakthrough Therapy designation and rare pediatric disease designation for NPC by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and orphan medicinal product designation for the treatment of NPC by the European Medicines Agency (EMA).  The arimoclomol New Drug Application (NDA) is currently being prepared for a resubmission to the FDA.

KP1077 is Zevra’s lead clinical candidate being developed to treat idiopathic hypersomnia (IH) and narcolepsy.  KP1077 is comprised solely of serdexmethylphenidate (SDX), Zevra’s proprietary prodrug of d-methylphenidate (“d-MPH”).  The FDA has granted KP1077 orphan drug designation for the treatment of IH, and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) has classified SDX as a Schedule IV controlled substance based on evidence suggesting SDX has a lower potential for abuse when compared to d-MPH, a Schedule II controlled substance.

Early access programs are made available by Zevra Therapeutics, Inc. and its affiliates and are subject to the Company's Early Access Program (EAP) policy as published on its website at zevra.com.  Participation in these programs is subject to the laws and regulations of each jurisdiction under which each respective program is operated.  Eligibility for participation in any such program is at the treating physician's discretion.

Caution Concerning Forward Looking Statements:

This press release may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements include all statements that do not relate solely to historical or current facts, and which can be identified by the use of words such as "may," "will," "expect," "project," "estimate," "anticipate," "plan," "believe," "potential," "should," "continue," "could," "intend," "target," "predict," or the negative versions of those words or other comparable words or expressions, although not all forward-looking statements contain these identifying words or expressions. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future actions or performance. These forward-looking statements include without limitation statements regarding senior leadership and board member transitions and refreshment, or the timing thereof, and our strategic and product development objectives, the promise and potential impact of our preclinical or clinical trial data, including without limitation the initiation, timing and results of any clinical trials or readouts, the content, timing or results of any Investigational New Drug (“IND”) applications and New Drug Application (“NDA”) submissions or resubmissions for arimoclomol, KP1077, or any other product candidates for any specific disease indication or at any dosage, the potential achievement of commercial sales or revenue milestones for AZSTARYS and the timing thereof, the sufficiency of our cash, cash equivalents and investments to fund our operating activities for any specific period of time, expected net revenue from the French EAP program, and our strategic and product development objectives, including with respect to becoming a leading, commercially-focused rare disease company. Forward-looking statements are based on information currently available to Zevra and its current plans or expectations. They are subject to several known and unknown uncertainties, risks, and other important factors that may cause our actual results, performance, or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance, or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. These and other important factors are described in detail in the "Risk Factors" section of Zevra’s (formerly KemPharm) Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2022, as updated in Zevra’s (formerly KemPharm) Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2023, and Zevra’s (formerly KemPharm) other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. While we may elect to update such forward-looking statements at some point in the future, except as required by law, we disclaim any obligation to do so, even if subsequent events cause our views to change. Although we believe the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, we cannot assure that such expectations will prove correct.  These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing our views as of any date after the date of this press release. 

# # #

Contacts:

Nichol Ochsner 

+1 (732) 754-2545 

nochsner@zevra.com  

Jennifer Arcure  

+1 (917) 603-0681 

Jennifer.arcure@evokegroup.com  

ZEVRA THERAPEUTICS, INC.

UNAUDITED CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS

(in thousands, except share and per share amounts)

ZEVRA THERAPEUTICS, INC.

UNAUDITED CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS

(in thousands, except share and par value amounts)

Exhibit 99.2

 

 

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