NightHawk’s Scorpius BioManufacturing Subsidiary Announces the Promotion of Joe Payne to President and Chief Operating Officer

DURHAM, N.C., Feb. 01, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- NightHawk Biosciences (NYSE American: NHWK) (“NightHawk” or the “Company”), an integrated contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO), today announced the promotion of Joe Payne to President and Chief Operating Officer (COO) of its Scorpius BioManufacturing subsidiary.

Payne joined Scorpius in 2023 as VP of Quality and Regulatory Affairs. With a biopharma and pharmaceutical career spanning over 20 years, Payne’s recent experience includes leadership roles at CDMOs Tergus Pharma and Alcami Corporation. He has participated in 40+ regulatory inspections and has extensive knowledge of global regulatory agency requirements. In his role as President and COO, Payne will oversee quality, manufacturing, process sciences, and commercial operations.

Jeff Wolf, CEO of NightHawk Biosciences, commented, “Joe has seen nearly 100 different pharmaceutical facilities and has interacted with thousands of industry professionals at all levels. His expertise and experience will greatly benefit Scorpius during its next phase of growth. Joe has deep experience in developing and implementing quality production processes within large and small CDMO’s. Joe’s appointment reflects our focus on quality biomanufacturing throughout our organization. I’m confident Joe will ensure our clients have the smoothest path from the lab to the clinic to commercialization.”

Joe Payne further noted, “When I joined Scorpius in 2023, I was focused on building a robust quality operation. I was impressed by the team’s commitment, from the leadership all the way to our floor-level operators. I’m truly grateful for the faith that Jeff, the board, and the entire organization have placed in me, and I look forward to working with current and future clients to bring their biologic innovations to patients as efficiently and safely as possible.”

Mr. Wolf, Mr. Payne and the Scorpius commercial team will be at DCAT Week in New York City on March 18-21 to meet with clients and prospects about analytical testing, process development, and manufacturing services.

NightHawk Biosciences, Inc.

NightHawk Biosciences, through its Scorpius BioManufacturing subsidiary, is an integrated contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) focused on rapidly advancing biologic programs to the clinic and beyond. Scorpius offers a broad array of 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: or

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 Mr. Payne’s contribution to Scorpius including his expertise and experience greatly benefitting Scorpius during its next phase of growth and Mr. Payne ensuring clients have the smoothest path from the lab to the clinic to commercialization.. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from current expectations include, among others, the Company’s ability to derive the contributions to Scorpius anticipated from Mr. Payne, the ability to generate future revenue from manufacturing contracts, the Company’s ability to continue its strategy and 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 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.

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David Waldman