ReAlta Life Sciences Announces Appointment of Kia Motesharei, Ph.D. to Board of Directors

Seasoned Global Business Development Leader with Proven Track Record in Transformational Value Creation, Capital Formation, and Strategic Transactions

NORFOLK, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--ReAlta Life Sciences Inc. (“ReAlta” or the “Company”), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on safely targeting neutrophils and central components of the complement system to revolutionize the treatment of inflammatory disorders, today announced the appointment of Kia Motesharei, Ph.D. as a member of the ReAlta Life Sciences Board of Directors.

Howard Berman, Ph.D., executive chairman, stated: “Kia is one of the most accomplished and disciplined business development leaders in our industry. He brings a rare combination of strategic vision, deep scientific understanding, global relationships, and an exceptional record of executing high-impact transactions that create durable shareholder value. Across multiple companies, Kia has repeatedly demonstrated the ability to help reposition programs, secure transformational financings, enable first-in-class approvals, and drive extraordinary market-capitalization growth. His experience scaling companies from early clinical stages through regulatory success and value-defining outcomes makes him an ideal addition to the ReAlta Board as we advance pegtarazimod and pursue significant strategic and partnering opportunities. We are thrilled to welcome him.”

Dr. Motesharei is a seasoned biopharmaceutical business development executive with a global network and a proven deal track record, having completed over 100 transactions across licensing, mergers and acquisitions, financings, and strategic partnerships. He has held senior corporate development, licensing, and investor relations leadership roles at Madrigal Pharmaceuticals, Formation Bio, Akcea Therapeutics, Merck KGaA, Dyax, and Genfit.

Most recently, prior to joining Formation Bio, Dr. Motesharei led Business Development and Investor Relations at Madrigal Pharmaceuticals, where he played a key role in raising over $1 billion in capital, supporting the FDA approval of Rezdiffra®, the first approved therapy for NASH/MASH, and helping drive a market capitalization increase from approximately $800 million to over $7 billion. Earlier in his career, he partnered closely with the management teams at Genfit and Dyax to reposition Genfit’s lead program from atherosclerosis to NASH—contributing to a market capitalization increase from approximately $110 million to over $1.2 billion—and supported the development of Takhzyro®, Dyax’s next-generation hereditary angioedema therapy, which ultimately led to Dyax’s $6.5 billion acquisition by Shire, up from an initial market capitalization of approximately $120 million.

Dr. Motesharei holds a Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from the University of California, Los Angeles, a B.A. in Chemistry from Colorado College, and completed his NIH postdoctoral fellowship at The Scripps Research Institute.

Dr. Motesharei stated: “ReAlta represents a highly differentiated and highly transactable asset built on compelling and increasingly exciting clinical data, supported by a strong and well-characterized safety profile. Pegtarazimod’s unique dual mechanism targeting neutrophil- and complement-driven inflammation positions the program squarely at the intersection of significant unmet medical need and strong strategic interest from potential partners. I am excited to join the Board at this important inflection point and look forward to working closely with the team to help advance clinical execution, unlock strategic optionality, and maximize long-term value creation for patients and shareholders.”

About ReAlta Life Sciences

ReAlta Life Sciences is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company redefining the treatment possibilities for patients with devastating and historically untreatable inflammation-driven diseases by developing first-in-class tailored peptides designed to achieve life-changing outcomes with unprecedented safety. The company’s lead candidate, pegtarazimod (RLS-0071) is a next-generation dual-targeting intervention that represents a solution that rebalances the body’s inflammatory response and prevents tissue damage by selectively blocking both complement- and neutrophil-mediated pathways at the outset, disrupting inflammation at the core. To learn more about ReAlta, visit https://realtalifesciences.com and follow us on LinkedIn.

About RLS-0071 (pegtarazimod)

Pegtarazimod is a 15-amino-acid peptide that uniquely targets both humoral and cellular inflammation and is the Company’s lead therapeutic candidate. The peptide works by inhibiting complement activation at C1, as well as myeloperoxidase activity and neutrophil extracellular trap (NET) formation—key mechanisms implicated in the inflammatory cascade underlying a broad range of diseases driven by dysregulated neutrophils and complement activity. Pegtarazimod was derived from a mechanistic discovery of the human astrovirus HAstV-1, a virus known to cause non-inflammatory gastroenteritis, which provided a novel scaffold for innate immune modulation. Across multiple clinical studies in healthy volunteers and patients with life-threatening inflammatory conditions, pegtarazimod has demonstrated a favorable tolerability profile and encouraging clinical signals, supporting its development in acute inflammatory diseases with significant unmet medical need. Pegtarazimod has received FDA Orphan Drug and Fast Track Designations for Hypoxic Ischemic Encephalopathy (HIE), EMA Orphan Drug Designation for HIE, FDA Orphan Drug and Fast Track Designations for acute Graft vs Host Disease, and EMA Orphan Drug Designation for acute Graft vs Host Disease.