UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549
FORM 8-K
CURRENT REPORT
PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d)
OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934
Date of report (Date of earliest event reported): July 20, 2020
ZIOPHARM Oncology, Inc.
(Exact Name of Registrant as Specified in Charter)
| Delaware | 001-33038 | 84-1475642 | ||
(State or Other Jurisdiction of Incorporation) | (Commission File Number) | (IRS Employer Identification No.) |
One First Avenue, Parris Building 34, Navy Yard Plaza Boston, Massachusetts | 02129 | |||
| (Address of Principal Executive Offices) | (Zip Code) | |||
(617) 259-1970
(Registrant’s telephone number, including area code)
Not applicable
(Former Name or Former Address, if Changed Since Last Report)
Check the appropriate box below if the Form 8-K is intended to simultaneously satisfy the filing obligation of the registrant under any of the following provisions:
| ☐ | Written communications pursuant to Rule 425 under the Securities Act (17 CFR 230.425). |
| ☐ | Soliciting material pursuant to Rule 14a-12 under the Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.14a-12). |
| ☐ | Pre-commencement communications pursuant to Rule 14d-2(b) under the Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.14d-2(b)). |
| ☐ | Pre-commencement communications pursuant to Rule 13e-4(c) under the Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.13e-4(c)). |
Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:
Title of each class | Trading Symbol(s) | Name of each exchange on which registered | ||
| Common Stock, par value $0.001 per share | ZIOP | The Nasdaq Stock Market LLC |
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is an emerging growth company as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act (17 CFR 230.405) or Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.12b-2).
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. |
Election of New Director
On July 20, 2020, the Board of Directors, or the Board, of Ziopharm Oncology, Inc., or the Company, appointed James Huang as a director of the Company, effective immediately. Mr. Huang will serve as a director until the Company’s 2021 Annual Meeting of Stockholders and until such time as his successor is duly elected and qualified, or until his earlier death, resignation or removal. Mr. Huang will not serve on any committees of the Company’s Board.
Mr. Huang, 55, joined Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers China, or KPCB China, as a managing partner in 2011 and focuses on the firm’s life sciences practice. Prior to joining KPCB China, Mr. Huang was a managing partner at Vivo Ventures, a venture capital firm specializing in life sciences investments. Before joining Vivo in 2007, Mr. Huang was president of Anesiva, a biopharmaceutical company focused on pain-management treatments. During his 20-year career in the pharmaceutical and biotech industry, he also held senior roles in business development, sales, marketing and R&D with Tularik Inc. (acquired by Amgen), GlaxoSmithKline LLC, Bristol-Myers Squibb and ALZA Corp. (acquired by Johnson & Johnson). Mr. Huang is also founding and managing partner of Panacea Venture, a global venture fund focusing on investments in innovative and transformative early and growth stage healthcare and life science companies. Mr. Huang is Chairman of the Board at Kindstar Global (Beijing) Technology, Inc., Windtree Therapeutics, Inc., JHL Biotech, Inc., Tactiva Therapeutics, LLC, and Chime Biologics Limited and Director at CASI Pharmaceuticals Inc. and XW Laboratories Inc. Mr. Huang received an M.B.A. from the Stanford Graduate School of Business and a B.S. degree in chemical engineering from the University of California, Berkeley.
Mr. Huang will be compensated in accordance with the Company’s standard compensation arrangements for non-employee directors, which are described in greater detail in the Company’s definitive proxy statement on Schedule 14A relating to its 2020 Annual Meeting of Stockholders, which was filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, or the Commission, on May 18, 2020.
In connection with his appointment, the Company will enter into its standard form of indemnity agreement with Mr. Huang, the form of which was filed as Exhibit 99.1 to the Company’s Current Report on Form 8-K filed with the Commission on January 31, 2013. Mr. Huang was not selected as a director pursuant to any arrangements or understandings with the Company or with any other person.
Panacea Venture, where Mr. Huang was the founder and serves as managing partner, has invested in TriArm Therapeutics, Ltd, or TriArm. On December 19, 2018, the Company and TriArm launched a joint venture, operating as Eden BioCell, Ltd., or Eden BioCell, to lead commercialization of the Company’s Sleeping Beauty-generated CAR-T therapies in the People’s Republic of China (including Macau and Hong Kong), Taiwan and Korea. Eden BioCell is focused on advancing the Company’s Rapid Personalized Manufacturing (RPM) technology using patient-derived (autologous) T cells to treat patients with relapsed or refractory CD19+ leukemias and lymphomas. The Company licensed to Eden BioCell the rights in Greater China for its third-generation Sleeping Beauty-generated CAR-T therapies targeting the CD19 antigen. Eden BioCell is owned equally by the Company and TriArm and the parties share decision-making authority. TriArm has contributed $10.0 million to Eden BioCell and has committed up to an additional $25.0 million to this joint venture. TriArm also manages all clinical development in the territory pursuant to a Master Services Agreement between TriArm and Eden BioCell. Mr. Huang and Laurence Cooper M.D., Ph.D., the Company’s Chief Executive Officer, serve as the members of Eden BioCell’s Board of Directors.
SIGNATURES
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.
| ZIOPHARM ONCOLOGY, INC. | ||||||
| By: | /s/ Robert Hadfield | |||||
| Date: July 24, 2020 | Name: | Robert Hadfield | ||||
| Title: | General Counsel and Secretary | |||||