Allakos Appoints Rand Sutherland and Dolca Thomas to its Board of Directors

SAN CARLOS, Calif., Aug. 02, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Allakos Inc. (Nasdaq: ALLK), a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing therapeutics which target immunomodulatory receptors present on immune effector cells involved in allergy, inflammatory and proliferative diseases, today announced the appointment of Rand Sutherland, M.D. and Dolca Thomas, M.D. to the Allakos board of directors.

Dr. Sutherland was the Chief Executive Officer of Seeker Biologics, a privately-held company, and currently serves on the board of directors of Krystal Biotech, Inc. and Vanqua Bio, Inc. Among other experiences, Dr. Sutherland held senior roles developing therapeutics at Translate Bio, Inc. as well as Sanofi and he received his M.D. from the University of Chicago.

Dr. Thomas is a Venture Partner with Samsara BioCapital and currently serves on the board of directors of Chinook Therapeutics, Inc. and Ventus Therapeutics, Inc. Among other experiences, Dr. Thomas was the Executive Vice President, Head of Research and Development and Chief Medical Officer at Equillium, Inc. as well as the Chief Medical Officer at Principia Biopharma, Inc. and she received her M.D. from Cornell University.

About Allakos

Allakos is a clinical stage biotechnology company developing therapeutics which target immunomodulatory receptors present on immune effector cells involved in allergy, inflammatory and proliferative diseases. Activating these immunomodulatory receptors allows for the direct targeting of cells involved in disease pathogenesis and, in the setting of allergy and inflammation, has the potential to result in broad inhibition of inflammatory cells. The Company’s most advanced antibodies are lirentelimab (AK002) and AK006. Lirentelimab selectively targets both mast cells and eosinophils, two types of white blood cells that are widely distributed in the body and play a central role in the inflammatory response. Inappropriately activated mast cells and eosinophils have been identified as key drivers in a number of severe diseases affecting the gastrointestinal tract, eyes, skin, lungs and other organs. AK006 targets Siglec-6, an inhibitory receptor expressed selectively on mast cells. In pre-clinical studies, AK006 appears to provide deeper mast cell inhibition than lirentelimab and, in addition to its inhibitory activity, reduce mast cell numbers. For more information, please visit the Company's website at www.allakos.com.