Akari Therapeutics Releases CEO Corner Highlighting Strategic Progress and Path to Clinical Development Under CEO Abizer Gaslightwala

Highlights strategic progress achieved under Abizer Gaslightwala’s leadership, including advancement of AKTX-101 and expansion of Akari’s ADC pipeline 

Access the Akari CEO Corner

TAMPA, Fla. and LONDON, March 13, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Akari Therapeutics, Plc (Nasdaq: AKTX), an oncology biotechnology company developing antibody drug conjugates (ADCs) with novel immuno-oncology payloads, today released a new CEO Corner segment featuring reflecting on his first year leading the Company and the strategic progress achieved during that time.

Over the past year under Abizer Gaslightwala’s leadership, Akari Therapeutics has sharpened its strategic focus and advanced the development of its proprietary PH1 ADC payload platform. In the latest CEO Corner, Mr. Gaslightwala highlights the key scientific, operational and strategic milestones achieved as the Company positions itself to transition to a clinical stage biotechnology company.

The Company’s lead program, AKTX-101, is a Trop2-targeted ADC powered by the PH1 payload and engineered with a proprietary non-cleavable linker. Under Mr. Gaslightwala’s leadership, Akari has expanded the scientific understanding of its PH1 platform through new preclinical data presentations at leading scientific conferences, including the 2025 Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC), where the novel immuno-oncology effects of the payload were presented. 

A key step toward clinical advancement came with the initiation of IND-enabling activities through a strategic manufacturing partnership with WuXi XDC, a leading global ADC development and manufacturing partner. This collaboration supports Akari’s goal of submitting an IND or CTA for AKTX-101 in late 2026 or early 2027, with plans to initiate a first-in-human Phase 1 clinical study shortly thereafter, subject to regulatory clearance.

During this period of strategic advancement, Akari also expanded its pipeline with the introduction of AKTX-102, targeting CEACAM5-expressing tumors. By combining a novel antibody construct with the PH1 payload, the Company aims to unlock one of oncology’s historically challenging targets and demonstrate the scalability of its “pipeline in a payload” strategy.

In parallel, the Company strengthened its intellectual property estate through multiple provisional patent filings covering aspects of the PH1 payload, immune system activation mechanisms, antibody design innovations and potential combination strategies. Akari also established a world-class group of scientific advisors from leading cancer research institutions to support the advancement of its platform.

The CEO Corner segment is now available .

About Akari Therapeutics

Akari Therapeutics is an oncology biotechnology company developing next-generation antibody drug conjugates (ADCs) with a unique payload, PH1, which targets RNA splicing. Utilizing its innovative ADC discovery platform, the Company has the ability to generate ADC candidates and optimize them based on the desired application to any antigen target of interest. Akari’s lead candidate, AKTX-101, targets the Trop2 receptor on cancer cells and with a proprietary linker, enabling it to deliver its novel PH1 payload directly into the tumor with minimal off-target effects. Unlike current ADCs that use tubulin inhibitors and DNA damaging agents as their payloads, PH1 is a novel payload that is a spliceosome modulator designed to disrupt RNA splicing within cancer cells. This splicing modulation has been shown in preclinical animal models to induce cancer cell death while activating both the innate and adaptive immune system to drive robust and durable activity. In preclinical studies, AKTX-101 has shown to have significant activity and prolonged survival relative to ADCs with traditional payloads. Additionally, AKTX-101 has the potential to be synergistic with checkpoint inhibitors and has demonstrated prolonged survival as both a single agent and in combination with checkpoint inhibitors. The PH1 payload has also been demonstrated to be very active against cancer cells with key oncogenic drivers such as KRAS, BRAF, ARV7, FGFR3 fusions, and others. The Company has initiated IND enabling studies for AKTX-101 with a goal of starting its First-In-Human trial by late 2026/early 2027. Akari is also developing AKTX-102, an ADC candidate targeting CEACAM5 (Carcinoembryonic Antigen-related Cell Adhesion Molecule-5), a well-validated tumor antigen broadly expressed across multiple solid tumors. AKTX-102 is designed to leverage Akari’s proprietary PH1 spliceosome-modulating payload and novel antibody construct to enable differentiated tumor cell killing and immune activation.

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