Olatec Therapeutics Appoints Parkinson's Disease Investigator Caroline Williams-Gray, FRCP PhD, to Clinical Advisory Board and Physician-Innovator David Haase, MD, FMCP-M, QIA, to Board of Directors and Clinical Advisory Board

NEW YORK, Sept. 15, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Olatec Therapeutics, Inc. ("Olatec"), a leader in the emerging class of specific NLRP3 inhibitors, today announced two additions to its clinical leadership teams. Caroline Williams-Gray, BMBCh MA(Cantab) FRCP(UK) PhD, has joined Olatec's Clinical Advisory Board, and David Haase, MD, FABFM, DABIoM, FMCP-M, CNS, QIA, has joined the Board of Directors and the Clinical Advisory Board.

Caroline Williams-Gray

Dr. Williams-Gray's appointment to Olatec's Clinical Advisory Board builds on a collaboration that began in 2023 with Olatec's Parkinson's disease program. Today, she serves as Chief Investigator for the Phase 2 DAPA-PD trial of dapansutrile (NCT07157735) at the University of Cambridge's Department of Clinical Neurosciences, which  is now enrolling patients with early Parkinson's disease. The trial is sponsored by Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and the University of Cambridge, and funded by Cure Parkinson's and Van Andel Institute through their international Linked Clinical Trials (iLCT) program, which prioritized dapansutrile in 2022 as its selected NLRP3 inflammasome inhibitor in its portfolio. DAPA-PD is the longest clinical study evaluating a selective NLRP3 inhibitor in Parkinson's disease to date.

Dr. Williams-Gray is an internationally recognized authority on the clinical heterogeneity of Parkinson's and the role of the immune system in disease progression. She has been appointed as Clinical Research Professor in the Department of Clinical Neurosciences at the University of Cambridge and is an Honorary Consultant Neurologist at Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Trust and The Princess Alexandra Hospital NHS Trust, where she specializes in Movement Disorders. Dr Williams-Gray completed her undergraduate medical training at Cambridge University and Oxford Clinical School, UK, and received her PhD from Cambridge in 2008. She completed a Clinical Lectureship in Neurology in Cambridge and was subsequently awarded a Medical Research Council (MRC) Clinician Scientist Fellowship. For the past ten years, she has led a translational research group focusing on inflammation and immunity in Parkinson's.

"There is now strong evidence that immune activation influences the progression of Parkinson's disease," said Dr. Williams-Gray. "Dapansutrile's ability to specifically inhibit NLRP3, a central regulator of innate immune activation, represents a compelling scientific approach. I look forward to expanding our work with Olatec's dapansutrile in Parkinson's and other neurological diseases."

David Haase

Dr. Haase's appointments to Olatec's Board of Directors and Clinical Advisory Board build on a relationship with the Company that began in early 2026. He brings over 25 years of active clinical practice and clinical research expertise in the patient populations in which Olatec is evaluating dapansutrile: adults with chronic inflammatory disease, metabolic dysfunction and cognitive decline. This clinical work aligns directly with the biological role of the NLRP3 inflammasome, dapansutrile's target.

Dr. Haase is Founder and Medical Director of MaxWell Clinic in Brentwood, TN, a Personalized Systems Medicine practice he established in 2003. He built MaxWell Clinic to be a leading center in therapeutic plasma exchange for diverse patient populations, including those with cognitive decline. Dr. Haase is also Chief Executive Officer of EverBetter LLC, an emerging novel health data management system.

Dr. Haase earned his medical degree from Vanderbilt University School of Medicine and completed his residency in Family Medicine at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. He is board certified by both the American Board of Family Medicine and the American Board of Integrative Holistic Medicine. Dr. Haase also holds the Qualification in Apheresis (QIA) and a Clinical Faculty appointment as Assistant Professor in the Department of Foundational and Clinical Sciences at the Thomas F. Frist, Jr. College of Medicine at Belmont University. He has taught practicing clinicians for more than two decades as faculty of the Institute for Functional Medicine. Dr. Haase serves on scientific advisory boards and boards of directors across biotechnology, diagnostics, therapeutics and clinical nutrition. Dr. Haase is a shareholder in Olatec.

"Medicine names disease after it has taken hold," said Dr. Haase. "I treat that end in my practice: the memory loss, the metabolic disease, the damaged arteries. But my focus is upstream, on prevention rather than only managing disease and its effects.  Biologically, NLRP3 sits upstream and is a driver of many inflammatory diseases, which is why dapansutrile, a single oral drug, has the potential to address multiple indications with underlying chronic, uncontrolled inflammation. Its specificity and favorable safety profile to date, including with extended dosing, are what makes dapansutrile compelling. It holds the promise that a patient could take it over the long term to potentially modify their disease without broad immunosuppression that we see with analogous therapies. That combination is essential, and it is why I joined the Board."

"Dr. Williams-Gray and Dr. Haase enhance the depth of Olatec's Board of Directors and Clinical Advisory Board," said Damaris B. Skouras, Founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Olatec Therapeutics.  "Their involvement reflects growing recognition of the potential of targeting NLRP3 across multiple disease areas and reinforces the scientific rationale and therapeutic potential of dapansutrile. We are fortunate to have them on the Team."

About Olatec Therapeutics, Inc.
Olatec is a clinical-stage biotech company at the forefront of an emerging class of innovative, oral inflammation therapeutics, called NLRP3 inhibitors. Dapansutrile, Olatec's proprietary oral NLRP3 inhibitor, specifically inhibits the NLRP3 inflammasome, known as a master regulator of the innate immune system's inflammatory response. Olatec has advanced dapansutrile from discovery into later-stage clinical development and its mission is to translate scientific potential into the medical standard for the management of chronic, age-related diseases across multiple therapeutic areas and for expanding health span with a cost-effective and patient-friendly (orally dosed) therapeutic. 

Olatec's preclinical and clinical research have been published in top medical and scientific journals such as The Lancet, Journal of Neuroinflammation, Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences and Frontiers in Immunology.  Multiple clinical trials are being conducted at internationally recognized centers of excellence such as Duke Cancer Institute in collaboration with Merck and the neurosciences clinic at the University of Cambridge.

About Dapansutrile
Dapansutrile is Olatec's proprietary specific oral NLRP3 inhibitor, targeting chronic pathological inflammation to modulate a central driver of the innate immune response, while preserving normal immune function. Dapansutrile is being studied across across a broad range of acute and chronic inflammatory diseases. Olatec's clinical development strategy has always been designed to evaluate dapansutriles's potential in well-defined, chronic disease populations, with a primary focus on achieving established clinical efficacy endpoints recognized by global regulatory agencies, while also incorporating measures of both target biology and disease activity.  The overarching objective of each trial has been to build an understanding whether NLRP3 inhibition with dapansutrile can safely translate into meaningful, disease-modifying effects over periods of extended dosing.

Dapansutrile has demonstrated a favorable safety profile in clinical studies to date, with clinical benefit observed in both human and animal studies, including a Phase 2a study in acute gout. Dapansutrile is currently being evaluated in ongoing clinical programs in gout, type 2 diabetes, advanced melanoma and Parkinson's disease.

Disclaimer & Forward-looking Statement
This press release is not an offer to sell and is not soliciting an offer to buy any equity interests in Olatec. The information contained herein is being provided for information purposes only. Olatec makes no express or implied representation or warranty as to the completeness of this information. Any forward-looking statements contained in this release are based on assumptions made by Olatec at the time this Press Release was prepared.  Any forward-looking statement contained in this Press Release is subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may be materially different from those contemplated in such forward-looking statements. All information with respect to industry data has been obtained from sources believed to be reliable and current, but the accuracy thereof cannot be guaranteed. Olatec does not undertake any obligation to update or revise the forward-looking statements contained in this Press Release to reflect events or circumstances occurring after the date this Press Release was prepared, or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events. 

SOURCE Olatec Therapeutics, Inc.