InflaRx Appoints Gabriela Alperovich, MD, PhD, as Senior Vice President & Global Head of Clinical Development

Jena, Germany, Oct. 01, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- InflaRx N.V. (Nasdaq: IFRX), a biopharmaceutical company pioneering anti-inflammatory therapeutics by targeting the complement system, today announced the appointment of Gabriela Alperovich, MD, PhD, as Senior Vice President & Global Head of Clinical Development, effective October 1, 2026.

Dr. Alperovich is a physician-scientist and nephrologist with more than two decades of experience in the global pharmaceutical industry, spanning senior leadership roles across clinical development and medical affairs, and a track record of advancing Phase 2 and registrational programs in immune-inflammatory renal diseases through to regulatory submission and approval.

Prof. Niels C. Riedemann, Chief Executive Officer and Founder of InflaRx, said: "We are delighted to welcome Gabriela to our team. She brings deep clinical development expertise in immune-inflammatory diseases, a strong record of registrational and regulatory success, and hands-on experience leading global programs and teams. Her background in renal and complement-driven diseases is highly complementary to our efforts, and her leadership will be invaluable as we advance izicopan into its next phase of development and continue to build long-term value across our pipeline."

Dr. Gabriela Alperovich commented: "I am excited to join InflaRx at such a pivotal moment for the Company and its complement-targeted platform. Throughout my career, I have focused on immune-inflammatory diseases, including renal diseases such as IgA nephropathy, lupus nephritis, or ANCA-associated vasculitis, where modulating the complement system can be truly disease-modifying for patients. InflaRx's differentiated approach to C5a and C5aR inhibition, together with the best-in-class potential emerging for izicopan, represents a compelling opportunity to bring meaningful new therapies to patients with high unmet need. I look forward to working with the dedicated team at InflaRx to advance these programs."

Dr. Alperovich joins InflaRx from CSL Vifor, where she served most recently as Executive Director, Global Clinical Lead for Cardiovascular and Renal, overseeing the company's cardiovascular and renal clinical development programs and leading a global team of physicians and clinical scientists. Over more than 20 years in the industry, she has held clinical development and medical affairs leadership roles at CSL Vifor, AbbVie and Bristol-Myers Squibb, among others, leading Phase 2/3 registrational programs across multiple indications - including IgA nephropathy, focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS) and kidney transplant - with successful regulatory submissions and approvals, and taking direct responsibility for assets through lifecycle management and post-approval commitments. Dr. Alperovich is board certified in Internal Medicine and Nephrology and holds a PhD in kidney transplant from the University of Barcelona.

About izicopan

Izicopan is an orally administered, small molecule inhibitor of the C5a receptor (C5aR) that has shown anti-inflammatory therapeutic effects in several pre-clinical disease models and in human studies. InflaRx is planning for development of izicopan in ANCA-associated vasculitis (AAV) and additional renal indications.
Further, in contrast to the marketed C5aR inhibitor, in vitro experiments demonstrated that izicopan does not exhibit time-dependent inhibition of cytochrome P450 3A4 (CYP3A4), which plays an important role in the metabolism of a variety of metabolites and drugs, including glucocorticoids. Izicopan has also demonstrated a favorable reactive metabolite profile in human liver microsomes. Reported results from a first-in-human study demonstrated that izicopan was well tolerated in treated subjects and exhibited no safety signals of concern in single doses ranging from 3 mg to 240 mg or multiple doses ranging from 30 mg once per day to 90 mg twice per day for 14 days. Pharmacokinetic / pharmacodynamic data support the best-in-class potential of izicopan, with a ≥90% blockade of C5a-induced neutrophil activation achieved over the 14-day dosing period. Topline Phase 2a data further support the safety profile of izicopan, with no reported safety signals of concern. In patients with hidradenitis suppurativa, over 4 weeks of therapy, izicopan provided rapid and clinically meaningful reductions in abscesses and nodules and draining tunnels, robust HiSCR responses that continued to deepen four weeks after the treatment period, and substantial reductions in patient-reported pain scores, overall demonstrating the potential for biologic-like efficacy. In chronic spontaneous urticaria, InflaRx observed substantial reductions in the 7-day Urticaria Activity Score (UAS7) broadly across patients and particularly in those with severe disease, as well as improved disease control as measured by the Urticaria Control Test (UCT7).

About vilobelimab

Vilobelimab is a first-in-class monoclonal anti-human complement factor C5a antibody which highly and effectively blocks the biological activity of C5a and demonstrates high selectivity towards its target in human blood. Thus, vilobelimab leaves the formation of the membrane attack complex (C5b-9) intact as an important defense mechanism of the innate immune system, which is not the case for molecules blocking C5. In pre-clinical studies, vilobelimab has been shown to control the inflammatory response-driven tissue and organ damage by specifically blocking C5a as a key “amplifier” of this response. Vilobelimab has been evaluated in two controlled Phase 2 AAV studies, the European IXCHANGE trial and the U.S. IXPLORE trial.

About InflaRx N.V.

InflaRx (Nasdaq: IFRX) is a biopharmaceutical company pioneering anti-inflammatory therapeutics by applying its proprietary anti-C5a and anti-C5aR technologies to discover, develop and commercialize highly potent and specific inhibitors of the complement activation factor C5a and its receptor, C5aR. C5a is a powerful inflammatory mediator involved in the progression of a wide variety of inflammatory diseases. InflaRx‘s lead program is izicopan, an orally administered small molecule inhibitor of C5a-induced signaling via the C5a receptor, which has shown promising PK/PD characteristics as well as therapeutic potential in Phase 1 and Phase 2a clinical studies. The Company is developing izicopan for the treatment of ANCA-associated vasculitis and additional renal diseases. InflaRx also has developed vilobelimab, a novel, intravenously delivered, first-in-class, anti-C5a monoclonal antibody that selectively binds to free C5a and has demonstrated disease-modifying clinical activity and tolerability in multiple clinical studies.

InflaRx was founded in 2007, and the group has offices and subsidiaries in Jena and Munich, Germany, as well as Ann Arbor, MI, USA. For further information, please visit www.inflarx.de. Follow InflaRx on LinkedIn. InflaRx GmbH (Germany) and InflaRx Pharmaceuticals Inc. (USA) are wholly owned subsidiaries of InflaRx N.V. (together, InflaRx).

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FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This press release contains forward-looking statements. All statements other than statements of historical fact are forward-looking statements, which are often indicated by terms such as “may,” “will,” “should,” “expect,” “plan,” “anticipate,” “could,” “intend,” “target,” “project,” “estimate,” “believe,” “predict,” “potential” or “continue,” among others. Forward-looking statements appear in a number of places throughout this release and may include statements regarding our intentions, beliefs, projections, outlook, analyses and current expectations concerning, among other things, the success of our future clinical trials for izicopan’s treatment of AAV and other renal diseases, including aHUS, IgAN and C3G, and our ability to establish proof of concept for izicopan across such indications; the timing, progress and results of preclinical studies and clinical trials of vilobelimab, izicopan and any other of our product candidates; our interactions with regulators regarding the results of clinical trials and potential regulatory approval pathways, including potential regulatory paths in AAV for vilobelimab and izicopan and related discussions with EMA; the timing and outcome of any discussions or submission of filings for regulatory approval of vilobelimab, izicopan or any other product candidate, and the timing of and our ability to obtain and maintain full regulatory approval and/or marketing authorization for any indication; potential strategic transactions or collaborations, including a potential partnership of izicopan or vilobelimab for PG; whether the FDA, EMA or any comparable foreign regulatory authority will accept or agree with the number, design, size, conduct or implementation of our clinical trials, including any proposed primary or secondary endpoints for such trials; our ability to leverage our proprietary anti-C5a and anti-C5aR technologies to discover and develop therapies to treat complement-mediated immunological and inflammatory diseases; our ability to protect, maintain and enforce our intellectual property protection for vilobelimab, izicopan and any other product candidates, and the scope of such protection; our manufacturing capabilities and strategy, including the scalability and cost of our manufacturing methods and processes, the optimization of our manufacturing methods and processes, and our ability to rely on existing third-party manufacturers or engage additional third-party manufacturers for planned future clinical trials and commercial supply; our estimates of our expenses, ongoing losses, future revenue, capital requirements and our needs for or ability to obtain additional financing; our ability to defend against liability claims resulting from the testing of our product candidates in the clinic or, if approved or authorized, any commercial sales; if any of our product candidates obtain regulatory approval or authorization, our ability to comply with and satisfy ongoing drug regulatory obligations and continued regulatory oversight; our ability to comply with enacted and future legislation in seeking marketing approval, authorization or commercialization; our future growth and ability to compete, which depends on our retaining key personnel and recruiting additional qualified personnel; our competitive position and the development of and projections relating to our competitors in the development of C5a and C5aR inhibitors and other therapeutic products being developed in similar medical conditions in which vilobelimab, izicopan or any other of our product candidates is being developed or our industry; and the risks, uncertainties and other factors described under the heading “Risk Factors” in our periodic filings with the SEC. These statements speak only as of the date of this press release and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other important factors that may cause our actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Given these risks, uncertainties and other factors, you should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, and we assume no obligation to update these forward-looking statements, even if new information becomes available in the future, except as required by law.