FREMONT, Calif., Sept. 18, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Zosano Pharma Corporation (NASDAQ:ZSAN), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, today announced the appointment of Dushyant Pathak, Ph.D., as senior vice president of business development.

“We are pleased to welcome Dushyant, who brings over 20 years of experience as a senior executive in the life sciences industry, to Zosano,” said John Walker, chairman and chief executive officer of Zosano. “His proven track record of executing value-generating strategic alliances and business deals will be an asset to the company as we seek to expand the application of our intracutaneous microneedle technology for the delivery of biologics, inclusive of proteins, peptides, vaccine antigens and antibodies.”

Dr. Pathak was most recently the associate vice chancellor of research, innovation and technology commercialization, as well as the executive director of Venture Catalyst, for the University of California Davis. Previously, he was entrepreneur-in-residence at Mission Bay Capital, an independent venture firm focused on early-stage investments in bioscience companies emerging from the University of California. As the vice president of business development at iPierian, Dr. Pathak was a member of the executive team responsible for the successful completion of a merger, two rounds of financing, and strategic corporate alliances. Prior to this, he was president, chief executive officer and a member of the board of Cellexicon, a cancer-focused biomarker discovery and molecular diagnostics start-up. Dr. Pathak was also the founder of VentureEdge LLC, a biotechnology consulting firm focused on advising new ventures. Dr. Pathak was the vice president of program management and corporate development at Renovis, where he led business development, clinically-directed program management, and commercial planning. He also held business development positions at Axys Pharmaceuticals and Chiron Corporation. Dr. Pathak holds a Ph.D. in biochemistry, molecular biology and cell biology from Northwestern University, an M.B.A. from the Haas School of Business at the University of California Berkeley, and a B.A. in natural science and mathematics from Bennington College. He was a postdoctoral fellow and a member of the research faculty at Yale University.

Dr. Pathak added, “Zosano has a compelling proprietary platform in its intracutaneous microneedle delivery technology, as evidenced by the impressive Phase 3 data for Qtrypta, its acute treatment for migraine. I am excited to have joined the team, and I believe there are numerous opportunities to develop transformative business partnerships for the delivery of bioactive molecules, including vaccines and other biologics, for patient benefit.”

About Zosano Pharma
Zosano Pharma Corporation is a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing products where rapid administration of established molecules with established safety and efficacy profiles may provide an increased benefit to patients, for markets where patients remain underserved by existing therapies. The company’s Adhesive Dermally-Applied Microarray (ADAM) technology consists of titanium microneedles coated with drug that is designed to enable rapid systemic administration of therapeutics to patients. Zosano’s lead product candidate is Qtrypta^TM (M207), which is an investigational, proprietary formulation of zolmitriptan delivered via ADAM technology, currently in development for the acute treatment of migraine. In February 2017, the company announced positive clinical and statistically significant results from the ZOTRIP pivotal study and in February 2019, the company announced the completion of the final milestone in its long-term safety study. The company is preparing to submit a New Drug Application to the Food and Drug Administration for Qtrypta (M207). Learn more at www.zosanopharma.com.

Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements regarding its personnel and other future events and expectations. Readers are urged to consider statements that include the words "may," "will," "would," "could," "should," "might," "believes," "estimates," "projects," "potential," "expects," "plans," "anticipates," "intends," "continues," "forecast," "designed," "goal," "unaudited," "approximately" or the negative of those words or other comparable words to be uncertain and forward-looking. These statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that are difficult to predict, and actual outcomes may differ materially. These include risks and uncertainties, without limitation, associated with the process of discovering, developing and commercializing products that are safe and effective for use as human therapeutics, risks inherent in the effort to build a business around such products and other risks and uncertainties described under the heading "Risk Factors" in the Company's most recent quarterly report on Form 10-Q. Although Zosano believes that the expectations reflected in these forward-looking statements are reasonable, we cannot in any way guarantee that the future results, level of activity, performance or events and circumstances reflected in forward-looking statements will be achieved or occur. All forward-looking statements are based on information currently available to Zosano and Zosano assumes no obligation to update any such forward-looking statements.

Zosano Contact:
Greg Kitchener
Chief Financial Officer
510-745-1200

PR Contacts:
Sylvia Wheeler or Alexandra Santos
swheeler@wheelhouselsa.com or asantos@wheelhouselsa.com