Sireesh Appajosyula has been the CEO since June of 2025 and joined as COO in July of 2023 while serving as a member of our board of directors since July 2021. Previously, he was SVP, Corporate Development and Operations of 9 Meters Biopharma, a company focused on rare and unmet needs and is Managing Member of Highpoint Pharmaceuticals, LLC, a pharmaceutical research and development company. Prior to 9 Meters, Dr. Appajosyula was at Salix Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (“Salix”) (Nasdaq: SLXP) in various roles in medical affairs, product commercialization and business development until its acquisition by Bausch Health (Nasdaq: BHC). Prior to Salix, he was involved in various roles at Amgen Inc., Critical Therapeutics, Inc. (now Chiesi) and Sanofi (formerly Aventis). Dr. Appajosyula received his Bachelor of Science and Doctor of Pharmacy from Rutgers University.
Vincent LoPriore has served as a member of our board of directors since April 2025. Mr. LoPriore is an experienced financial professional with over 30 years of experience in the investment banking industry. He began his career at Oppenheimer & Co. in 1989 and subsequently held senior positions at Legg Mason, Inc. and partner at C.E. Unterberg, Towbin, where he led the special equities group and completed more than $150 million in private placement transactions. He has served in leadership roles at various boutique and mid-sized investment firms, focusing on capital raising, regulatory navigation. Mr. LoPriore is currently a Partner and licensed representative at President Street Global, LLC, a FINRA-registered broker-dealer. He also serves as the investment manager of the Gravitas Capital LP Fund, with a track record of strong investment performance. Mr. LoPriore has longstanding relationships within the biomedical industry and supports philanthropic initiatives including Race to Erase MS and Cure Addiction Now. Mr. LoPriore’s extensive investment banking experience and sector expertise support his qualifications to serve on the Board of Directors.
Thomas Hess is an experienced financial expert. From August 2014 until June 2021, Mr. Hess served as Chief Financial Officer and Senior Vice President of Finance of Genomind, Inc., a mental health company that developed and sold a pharmacogenomic test that analyzed how an individual’s genes may affect medication outcomes. From September 2011 until its sale in April 2014, Mr. Hess served as Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President of Finance of The Keane Organization, a comprehensive provider of unclaimed property services. Mr. Hess also previously served in various other capacities including, but not limited to, Chief Financial Officer and Senior Vice President of Yaupon Therapeutics, Inc.; Chief Financial Officer and Vice President, Finance of Adolor Corporation; Corporate Controller of Vicuron Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; and Senior Manager – Accounting and Audit of KPMG. Mr. Hess was formerly an adjunct faculty member/lecturer at Pennsylvania State University and DeSales University. Mr. Hess received his B.S. in accounting from The Pennsylvania State University and his MBA from Katz Graduate School of Business, University of Pittsburgh. Mr. Hess is a Certified Public Accountant in the state of Pennsylvania. He currently serves on the Alumni Council of Penn State and is the Chairman of the Nittany Lion Club Annual Fund.
Dr. Barak serves as the Chief Medical Advisor of Tharimmune since October 2023. Previously he served as the Chief scientific Officer of 9 Meters Biopharma, Inc. (Nasdaq: NMTR), a company focused on rare and unmet needs in gastrointestinal patient populations developing compounds with unique gastrointestinal biology. In 2008, after 10 years of working as an attending in Internal Medicine in a major hospital, Dr Barak founded RDD Pharma, a company focused on repurposing of drugs for anorectal indications. Under his leadership, RDD Pharma raised an investment from Orbimed, and in 2019 the company was merged to form 9 Meters Biopharma. Dr Barak received his MD from Tel-Aviv University, is board certified in Internal Medicine and completed 2 years of post-doctoral fellowship in the University of Chicago Hospitals.
Tharimmune is a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing a diverse portfolio of therapeutic candidates in immunology, inflammation and oncology. Its lead clinical asset, TH104, is being developed for a specific indication via a 505(b)2 pathway for respiratory and/or nervous system depression in military personnel and chemical incident responders who may encounter environments contaminated with high-potency opioids. The expanded pipeline includes other indications for TH104, such as chronic pruritus in primary biliary cholangitis and TH023, a new approach to treating autoimmune diseases along with an early-stage multispecific biologic platform targeting unique epitopes against multiple solid tumors through its proprietary EpiClick™ Technology.
Tharimmune, Inc. is a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing a portfolio of therapeutic candidates for inflammation and immunology. The Company’s lead clinical-stage asset, TH104, has been observed to suppress chronic, debilitating pruritus or “uncontrollable itching” in PBC, a rare and orphan liver disease with no known cure. The Company’s early-stage immunology pipeline includes novel multi-specific antibodies targeting unique epitopes with novel mechanisms of action against well-known, validated targets in multiple solid tumors, including PD-1, HER2 and HER3. Tharimmune has a license agreement with OmniAb, Inc. to access the company’s antibody discovery technology platform against these and other specified targets.
