false 0001434647 0001434647 2024-01-23 2024-01-23

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Check the appropriate box below if the Form 8-K filing is intended to simultaneously satisfy the filing obligation of the registrant under any of the following provisions:

 

 

 

 

 

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:

 

 

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is an emerging growth company as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act of 1933 (§ 230.405 of this chapter) or Rule 12b-2 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (§ 240.12b-2 of this chapter).

 

Emerging growth company   ☐

 

If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act.   ☐

 

 

Item 5.02          Departure of Directors or Certain Officers; Election of Directors; Appointment of Certain Officers; Compensatory Arrangements of Certain Officers.

 

On January 20, 2024, the board of directors (the “Board”) of Zevra Therapeutics, Inc. (the “Company”) appointed Alvin Shih, M.D. to serve as a director of the Company, effective immediately. Dr. Shih will serve as a Class III director, with a term expiring at the Company’s annual meeting of stockholders to be held in 2024 or until his earlier death, resignation, or removal.

 

There is no arrangement or understanding between Dr. Shih and any other person pursuant to which he was selected as a director of the Company, and there is no family relationship between Dr. Shih and any of the Company’s other directors or executive officers. The Company is not aware of any transaction involving Dr. Shih requiring disclosure under Item 404(a) of Regulation S-K. 

 

Dr. Shih has broad experience in drug development, spanning multiple therapeutic areas and with a focus on rare diseases, including as the former Chief Operating Officer and a founding member of Pfizer Inc.'s Rare Disease Research Unit from May 2010 to May 2014. Most recently, he has served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Catamaran Bio, Inc. since February 2021. Prior to his current role, from June 2019 to October 2020 he served as the Chief Executive Officer of Disarm Therapeutics, a biotechnology company that developed therapeutics for both rare and prevalent neurodegenerative diseases until its acquisition by Eli Lilly in 2020. Before that, Dr. Shih was Chief Executive Officer of Enzyvant Therapeutics from November 2016 to February 2019, where he led the company's cell/tissue-based therapy development for treating a rare immunological disease. He was also the Executive Vice President and Head of Research and Development at Retrophin, Inc., where he worked on therapies for multiple rare disease indications. Dr. Shih previously worked in management consulting at McKinsey & Company and L.E.K. Consulting, LLC. He received his medical degree from the University of Alabama School of Medicine and completed his residency training at Massachusetts General Hospital. Dr. Shih received his M.B.A. degree from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and his B.A. degree from Vanderbilt University. The Board believes that Dr. Shih’s significant leadership experience in the biotechnology industry and his experience in rare disease qualifies him to serve on the Board.

 

Upon commencement of his service as a director and pursuant to the Company’s non-employee director compensation policy, Dr. Shih will be granted an initial option grant to purchase 58,800 shares of the Company’s common stock under its Amended and Restated 2014 Equity Incentive Plan, with the shares vesting in three equal annual installments, subject to his continued service as a director through the applicable vesting date. Additionally, Dr. Shih will be entitled to receive a $40,000 annual retainer for his service as director. At each annual stockholder meeting following which Dr. Shih’s term as a director continues (beginning with the annual meeting of stockholders to be held in 2024), Dr. Shih will be entitled to receive an additional stock option to purchase 39,200 shares of the Company’s common stock, which option will vest and become exercisable in full on the earliest of (i) the first anniversary of the grant date, (ii) the day before the first annual stockholders meeting occurring after the grant date or (iii) immediately prior to a change in control of the Company, subject in each case to his continued service on such vesting date. 

 

Dr. Shih has also entered into the Company’s standard form of indemnification agreement. 

 

 

 

 

 

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned hereunto duly authorized.