Akari Therapeutics Appoints Rachelle Jacques as President and Chief Executive Officer Industry veteran brings extensive experience in the development and commercialization of advanced biological therapies, including in t

Akari Therapeutics Appoints Rachelle

Jacques as President and Chief Executive Officer

Industry veteran brings extensive

experience in the development and commercialization of advanced biological therapies, including in the field of complement (C5)

NEW YORK and LONDON, March 2, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -

Akari Therapeutics, Plc (Nasdaq: AKTX), a late-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on innovative therapeutics to treat orphan

autoimmune and inflammatory diseases where complement (C5) and/or leukotriene (LBT4) systems are implicated, today announced

the appointment of Rachelle Jacques as President and Chief Executive Officer of Akari Therapeutics. Ms. Jacques will also join the

company's Board of Directors. Her appointment begins at the end of March 2022.

Outgoing Chief Executive Officer, Clive Richardson, will continue to

serve the Company, supporting Rachelle to accelerate business development and ensuring a smooth transition.

"I am very pleased to be able to welcome Rachelle as CEO of Akari Therapeutics. She has considerable biotechnology experience including

a proven track record of bringing advanced therapies for rare diseases to the market," said Ray Prudo, M.D., Akari Therapeutics'

founder and Chairman of the company's Board of Directors. "With her combined experience in C5 inhibition, immunology

and rare diseases, Rachelle has a deep understanding of the potential of Akari's pipeline. This, together with her strategic experience,

affords a springboard to advance our Phase 3 pipeline through potential regulatory approval and towards commercialization, as well as

and bring forward our earlier stage pipeline. I very much look forward to working with Rachelle who will be based in the Boston area."

"It's an exciting time at Akari and I look forward to building on the robust research and development work that

has already been completed to advance nomacopan, a unique drug differentiated by its dual mode of action which has the potential to deliver

benefits beyond standard complement inhibition," stated Ms. Jacques. "Our pipeline, including two late-stage pivotal

programs, has tremendous potential for patients with significant unmet needs and we are working with urgency to realize that promise

Before this appointment, Ms. Jacques served as Chief Executive Officer of Enzyvant Therapeutics Inc., a commercial-stage biotechnology

company developing transformative regenerative therapies for rare diseases. Prior to Enzyvant, she served as the Senior Vice President

and Global Complement Franchise Head at Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc., where she was responsible for global franchise strategy

development and execution of the C5 complement inhibitors, eculizumab and ravulizumab, across the therapeutic areas of hematology,

nephrology and neurology. She was Vice President of U.S. Hematology Marketing at Baxalta Inc. and then Shire plc, following

Shire's acquisition of Baxalta in 2016. At Baxalta, she served as Vice President of Business Operations after its spinoff from

Baxter International Inc. Ms. Jacques held multiple leadership positions at Baxter, including Vice President of Finance, U.S. BioScience

Business. Earlier in her career, Ms. Jacques served in various roles at Dow Corning Corporation, including operational

management positions in the U.S., Europe, and China.

Ms. Jacques serves on the boards of directors of uniQure N.V. (Nasdaq: QURE) and Corbus Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: CRBP).

She is co-chair of the Alliance for Regenerative Medicine (ARM) Tissue Engineering & Biomaterials Committee and is

a founding member of the ARM Action for Equality Task Force. Ms. Jacques received her B.A. in business administration from Alma College.

About Akari Therapeutics

Akari is a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing inhibitors

of acute and chronic inflammation, specifically for the treatment of rare and orphan diseases, in particular those where the complement

(C5) or leukotriene (LTB4) systems, or both complement and leukotrienes together, play a primary role in disease progression. Akari's

lead drug candidate, nomacopan, is a C5 complement inhibitor that also independently and specifically inhibits leukotriene B4 (LTB4) activity.

Nomacopan is currently being clinically evaluated in four areas: bullous pemphigoid (BP), thrombotic microangiopathy (TMA), as well as

programs in the eye and lung.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements in this press release constitute "forward-looking

statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements reflect

our current views about our plans, intentions, expectations, strategies and prospects, which are based on the information currently available

to us and on assumptions we have made. Although we believe that our plans, intentions, expectations, strategies and prospects as reflected

in or suggested by those forward-looking statements are reasonable, we can give no assurance that the plans, intentions, expectations

or strategies will be attained or achieved. Furthermore, actual results may differ materially from those described in the forward-looking

statements and will be affected by a variety of risks and factors that are beyond our control. Such risks and uncertainties for our company

include, but are not limited to: needs for additional capital to fund our operations, our ability to continue as a going concern; uncertainties

of cash flows and inability to meet working capital needs; an inability or delay in obtaining required regulatory approvals for Nomacopan

and any other product candidates, which may result in unexpected cost expenditures; our ability to obtain orphan drug designation in additional

indications; risks inherent in drug development in general; uncertainties in obtaining successful clinical results for Nomacopan and any

other product candidates and unexpected costs that may result therefrom; difficulties enrolling patients in our clinical trials; our ability

to enter into collaborative, licensing, and other commercial relationships and on terms commercially reasonable to us; failure to realize

any value of Nomacopan and any other product candidates developed and being developed in light of inherent risks and difficulties involved

in successfully bringing product candidates to market; inability to develop new product candidates and support existing product candidates;

the approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and European Medicines Agency (EMA) and any other similar foreign regulatory

authorities of other competing or superior products brought to market; risks resulting from unforeseen side effects; risk that the market

for Nomacopan may not be as large as expected; risks associated with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic; inability to obtain, maintain

and enforce patents and other intellectual property rights or the unexpected costs associated with such enforcement or litigation; inability

to obtain and maintain commercial manufacturing arrangements with third party manufacturers or establish commercial scale manufacturing

capabilities; the inability to timely source adequate supply of our active pharmaceutical ingredients from third party manufacturers on

whom the company depends; unexpected cost increases and pricing pressures and risks and other risk factors detailed in our public filings

with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), including our most recently filed Annual Report on Form 20-F filed with the SEC. Except

as otherwise noted, these forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this press release and we undertake no obligation to

update or revise any of these statements to reflect events or circumstances occurring after this press release. We caution investors not

to place considerable reliance on the forward-looking statements contained in this press release.

For more information

Sukaina Virji/ Maya Bennison

Consilium Strategic Communications