BOSTON, April 17, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Atea Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: AVIR), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company engaged in the discovery and development of oral antiviral therapeutics for serious viral diseases, today announced the appointment of Howard H. Berman, Ph.D. to its Board of Directors. Dr. Berman will serve as a non-voting observer to the Board through Atea鈥檚 2025 Annual Meeting of Stockholders when he will join the Board as a full voting member.
鈥淲e are pleased to welcome Howard Berman to the Atea Board,鈥� said Jean-Pierre Sommadossi, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer and Founder of Atea. 鈥淲e look forward to benefitting from Dr. Berman鈥檚 industry experience and insights as we advance our global Phase 3 program evaluating the regimen of bemnifosbuvir and ruzasvir for the treatment of hepatitis C virus (HCV) and our efforts to deliver value to Atea鈥檚 shareholders.鈥�
鈥淎tea鈥檚 de-risked Phase 3 program with its potential best-in-class profile for the treatment of HCV has the potential to disrupt a multi-billion global market,鈥� said Dr. Berman. 鈥淚 look forward to joining the Board and working with my fellow directors on behalf of all Atea鈥檚 shareholders.鈥�
The Company is adding Dr. Berman to the Board as part of its entry into an agreement (the 鈥淎greement鈥�) with Bradley L. Radoff and Michael Torok (together with certain of their affiliates, the 鈥淩adoff-JEC Group鈥�). In connection with the Agreement, the Radoff-JEC Group has withdrawn its slate of nominated director candidates and has agreed to vote all of the shares it collectively owns in favor of each of Atea鈥檚 Board nominees at the 2025 Annual Meeting.
鈥淲e invested in Atea because it has a real opportunity to create significant value for its shareholders,鈥� said Bradley L. Radoff and Michael Torok. 鈥淲e appreciate the productive engagement we have had with the Company, and we look forward to the contributions Dr. Berman will make to the Board.鈥�
The Company also announced that Franklin Berger has informed the Company of his intention not to stand for reelection at Atea鈥檚 2027 Annual Meeting of Stockholders.
The Agreement with the Radoff-JEC Group, which includes certain customary standstill, voting and other provisions, will be filed by the Company with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission as an exhibit to a Current Report on Form 8-K.
Share Repurchase Program and Strategic Alternatives Process
Atea also today announced that its Board has authorized, and will promptly begin executing upon, the repurchase of up to $25 million of the Company鈥檚 common stock. This authorization reflects the Company鈥檚 commitment to return capital to shareholders, while maintaining the flexibility needed to continue funding its global Phase 3 HCV program and positioning Atea for long-term success.
As previously announced on December 16, 2024, Atea engaged Evercore, a global independent investment bank, to identify potential opportunities to enhance shareholder value. The process includes a review of a broad range of strategic alternatives, including strategic partnerships, acquisition, merger, or other business combination, sale of assets or other strategic transactions. The process is ongoing, and the Company continues to evaluate all options to maximize shareholder value. There is no assurance that the process will result in the completion of any specific transaction or outcome. The Company does not intend to comment further with respect to this review unless or until its Board has approved a definitive course of action, the review process has concluded, or it is determined that other disclosure is appropriate.
Evercore is serving as Atea鈥檚 financial advisor and Latham & Watkins LLP is serving as legal counsel. Olshan Frome Wolosky LLP is serving as legal counsel to the Radoff-JEC Group.
About Howard H. Berman, Ph.D.
Howard H. Berman, Ph.D., is the Founder, Executive Chairman and former CEO of Coya Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: COYA), a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing treatments focused on the potential therapeutic advantages of regulatory T cells. Prior to founding Coya Therapeutics in 2020, he served as the Founder and former board member of Imaware Inc., a private at-home health testing and diagnostics company. Previously, he has held senior medical liaison roles at AbbVie Inc., Eli Lilly and Co., and Novartis Pharmaceuticals. Dr. Berman holds a Bachelor of Science in Biology from the University of Michigan and both a master鈥檚 degree and Ph.D. in Neuroscience and Pharmacology from Weill Cornell Medical College.
About Atea Pharmaceuticals
Atea is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering, developing and commercializing oral antiviral therapies to address the unmet medical needs of patients with serious viral infections. Leveraging Atea鈥檚 deep understanding of antiviral drug development, nucleos(t)ide chemistry, biology, biochemistry and virology, Atea has built a proprietary nucleos(t)ide prodrug platform to develop novel product candidates to treat ssRNA viruses, which are a prevalent cause of serious viral diseases. Atea plans to continue to build its pipeline of antiviral product candidates by augmenting its nucleos(t)ide platform with other classes of antivirals that may be used in combination with its nucleos(t)ide product candidates. Our lead program and current focus is on the development of the regimen of bemnifosbuvir, a nucleotide analog polymerase inhibitor, and ruzasvir, an NS5A inhibitor, to treat hepatitis C virus. For more information, please visit聽.
