Lota S. Zoth joins NewLink's Board of Directors; heads Audit Committee

AMES, Iowa, Nov. 7, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- NewLink Genetics Corporation (NASDAQ: NLNK), a biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering, developing and commercializing cancer therapeutics, today announced that Lota S. Zoth has accepted appointment to its Board of Directors and will act as Chair of its Audit Committee.

Ms. Zoth was Chief Financial Officer at MedImmune, Inc at the time the company was sold to AstraZeneca in 2007.  Over her 30-year career, she held a number of senior financial positions at MedImmune, and other publicly-traded companies, including Marriott International, PepsiCo Inc., Sodexo (formerly Sodexho Marriott) and PSINet.  Ms. Zoth, a certified public accountant, began her career as an auditor at Ernst & Young, LLP.  Currently, she serves as a board member and audit committee chair on several public, private and non-profit boards.

"We are very pleased to bring Lota's insights to NewLink's Board as we continue to advance our promising drug candidates through clinical trials," commented Dr. Charles Link, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of NewLink. "The first-hand experiences she has as an executive and board member in the biopharmaceutical industry will be very valuable to NewLink as we grow our company."

"In addition, as previously announced, two of NewLink's long serving Board members, David J. Lundquist and Sarah Alexander, did not stand for reelection at our recent shareholder's meeting," said Dr. Link.  "We appreciate Dave and Sarah's thoughtful advice and counsel as we grew from a small private research based company to a public company well into Phase 3 pivotal clinical trials."

About NewLink Genetics Corporation

NewLink Genetics Corporation is a biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering, developing and commercializing novel immunotherapeutic products to improve treatment options for cancer patients. NewLink's portfolio includes biologic and small-molecule immunotherapy product candidates intended to treat a wide range of oncology indications. NewLink's product candidates are designed to harness multiple components of the immune system to combat cancer without significant incremental toxicity, either as a monotherapy or in combination with other treatment regimens. NewLink's lead product candidate, algenpatucel-L (HyperAcute® Pancreas) is being studied in a Phase 3 clinical trial in surgically resected pancreatic cancer patients (under a Special Protocol Assessment with the U.S. FDA) as well as in a separate study in locally advanced pancreatic cancer patients. NewLink has recently launched an adaptive design Phase 2B/3 clinical trial of tergenpumatucel-L (HyperAcute Lung) in patients with non-small cell lung cancer. NewLink is developing indoximod (d-1-methyltryptophan, or D-1MT), a small-molecule, orally bioavailable product candidate from NewLink's proprietary indoleamine-(2, 3)-dioxygenase, or IDO, pathway inhibitor technology. NewLink is studying indoximod in various chemotherapy and immunotherapy combination studies independently and in collaboration with the National Cancer Institute. For more information please visit http://www.linkp.com. Patient information is available at http://www.pancreaticcancer-clinicaltrials.com.

Contact:
Gordon Link
Chief Financial Officer
515-598-2925
[email protected]

SOURCE NewLink Genetics Corporation