NightHawk Biosciences (NYSE American:
NHWK; NHWK), an integrated
contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO), today
announced that it is changing the name of the Company to Scorpius
Holdings, Inc. (“Scorpius”) to better reflect the Company’s
successful shift into a pure-play, large molecule biomanufacturing
CDMO. The Company will continue to operate its CDMO within the
Scorpius BioManufacturing subsidiary.
In connection with the name change, the
Company’s ticker will change to SCPX as well. The name and symbol
changes will not affect the Company's share structure or the rights
of the Company's shareholders, and no further action will be
required by existing shareholders.
In addition, the Company announced that it has
bolstered its leadership team with the promotions of Brian O’Mara
to VP of Process Sciences and Steve Lavezoli to VP of Commercial
Operations, as well as the additions of Juan Lagos as Senior
Director of Cell-Based Technologies and Ania Szymanska as Site Head
of Quality.
Jeff Wolf, CEO of Nighthawk, commented, “Our
rebranding to Scorpius Holdings is a testament to our successful
transition and the growth of our CDMO operations. The industry
faces a critical shortage of clinical-scale biologic manufacturing
capacity, driven by increasing demand for large molecule CDMO
services. Our state-of-the-art facility in San Antonio, Texas
ideally positions us to address this gap in CDMO manufacturing
capacity and services. The response from major biotech companies
and leading research institutions to our CDMO capabilities has been
positive, as evidenced by the expansion of our sales pipeline."
Mr. Wolf further noted, “To better service
increasing demand for our specialized CDMO services, we have
expanded our team with key hires to support our growing client
base. Each of these team members brings extensive industry
experience and will help ensure that we continue to provide our
clients with exceptional service. Given the investments in both our
facility and operations, we now have significant capacity to scale
our operations, which we expect will generate high incremental
margins and attractive returns for our shareholders in the years
ahead."
Senior Promotions and
Appointments
Brian O’Mara - VP of Process Sciences. Mr.
O’Mara joined Scorpius in June 2022 as the Senior Director,
Manufacturing Science & Technology. He has more than 20 years
of industrial biotechnology experience in downstream process
development of early- and late-stage protein therapeutics from
mammalian and microbial expression systems. He also has extensive
experience in the development and scale-up of protein conjugates,
including antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs), bi-specifics, and
PEGylated molecules, as well as experience in technology transfer,
CDMO management, process characterization, preparation and
oversight of PPQ campaigns, and associated CMC regulatory filings.
Brian earned a BS in Biology from Binghamton University and an MS
in Chemistry from Lehigh University.
Steve Lavezoli - VP of Commercial Operations.
Mr. Lavezoli joined Scorpius in December 2022 as the Regional VP of
Business Development for the central region. He now oversees
Scorpius’ business development, proposals, and marketing strategy.
He brings extensive experience in various roles throughout business
development and marketing. He spent 12 years in the industrial
gasses industry with Linde Gas, as well as W.L. Gore in their
Startup Biopharmaceutical division working on a Commercial
Business/Market Development role for Bulk Drug Substance Single-Use
items. He also spent 3 years with Catalent Biologics, focused on
Drug Substance Business Development in the US for early-stage
clinical programs with clients to bring life-changing therapies to
the market. Steve holds a BS in Chemical Engineering from
Pennsylvania State University and an MBA in Marketing from Robert
Morris University.
Juan Lagos - Senior Director of Cell-Based
Technologies. Mr. Lagos brings more than 20 years of experience in
cell culture and upstream process development from lab bench to
cGMP manufacturing and leads Scorpius’ cell-based technologies
team, which is responsible for analytical and cell therapy
processes. Before joining Scorpius, he was the Associate Director
MS&T / LVV Suspension Process Development at Rocket
Pharmaceuticals. His industry experience includes director-level
and senior engineering roles at Allakos and Bristol Myers Squibb,
as well as experience at biopharma service providers like WuXi
Apptec and Patheon. He holds a dual B.S. in Computer Science and
Chemical Engineering from Rutgers University, where he continues to
pursue a Ph.D. in Biochemical Engineering.
Ania Szymanska - Site Head of Quality. Ms.
Szymanska brings over 19 years of leadership and management
experience in Quality Control, Quality Assurance, and Compliance at
pharmaceutical and biotech companies. She joined Scorpius from
Marker Therapeutics, Inc. where she was Vice President of Quality
and built the Quality Management Systems. She played a critical
role in the design, construction, and qualification of their
state-of-the-art cell therapy GMP manufacturing facility and
Quality Control laboratories. Prior to Marker, she served as
Director of Quality Control for Bellicum Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
where she developed its Quality Control department and was
responsible for aseptic facility qualification. She also served as
Quality Validation Specialists of Opexa Therapeutics, Inc. and in
roles of increasing responsibility at Woodfield Pharmaceutical, LLC
(formerly Pernix Manufacturing, LLC), most recently as Director of
Microbiology. Ms. Szymanska earned an M.S. in Microbiology from the
University of Warsaw.
NightHawk Biosciences, Inc.
NightHawk Biosciences, through its Scorpius
BioManufacturing subsidiary, is an integrated contract development
and manufacturing organization (CDMO) focused on rapidly advancing
biologic and cell therapy programs to the clinic and beyond.
Scorpius offers a broad array analytical testing, process
development, and manufacturing services to pharmaceutical and
biotech companies at its state-of-the art facilities in San
Antonio, TX. With an experienced team and new, purpose-built U.S.
facilities, Scorpius is dedicated to transparent collaboration and
flexible, high-quality biologics biomanufacturing. For more
information, please visit: www.nighthawkbio.com or
www.scorpiusbiologics.com, and also follow us on Twitter.
Forward-Looking Statement
This release contains forward-looking statements
within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act
of 1995. In some cases forward-looking statements can be identified
by terminology such as "may," "should," "potential," "continue,"
"expects," "anticipates," "intends," "plans," "believes,"
"estimates," and similar expressions, and include statements such
as generating high incremental margins and attractive returns for
our shareholders in the years ahead. Important factors that could
cause actual results to differ materially from current expectations
include, among others, the Company’s ability to generate, high
incremental margins and attractive returns for our shareholders in
the years ahead, the Company’s ability to continue to grow revenue,
leverage fixed costs and achieve long-term profitability; the
Company’s ability to create substantial shareholder value as a
pure-play CDMO in an underserved marketplace; the Company’s
financing needs, its cash balance being sufficient to sustain
operations and its ability to raise capital when needed, the
Company’s ability to successfully operate as a CDMO the ability to
obtain regulatory approval or to comply with ongoing regulatory
requirements, regulatory limitations relating to the Company’s
ability to successfully promote its services and compete as a
pure-play CDMO, and other factors described in the Company’s annual
report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2022,
subsequent quarterly reports on Form 10-Qs and any other filings
the Company makes with the SEC. The information in this
presentation is provided only as of the date presented, and the
Company undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking
statements contained in this presentation on account of new
information, future events, or otherwise, except as required by
law.
Media and Investor Relations
ContactDavid Waldman+1 919 289
4017investorrelations@nighthawkbio.com
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