VERSARTIS, INC. (NASDAQ:VSAR) Files An 8-K Departure of Directors or Certain Officers; Election of Directors; Appointment of Certain Officers; Compensatory Arrangements of Certain Officers
Item 5.02. Departure of Directors or Certain Officers; Election of Directors; Appointment of Certain Officers; Compensatory Arrangements of Certain Officers

On November28, 2017, the Board of Directors (the “Board”) of Versartis, Inc. (the “Company”) appointed Jay P. Shepard, the Company’s Chief Executive Officer, to the position of principal financial officer, effective December1, 2017, following the previously announced resignation of Joshua T. Brumm, the Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer of the Company.

Also on November28, 2017, the Board appointed Kevin Haas, the Company’s Corporate Controller, to the positions of Vice President, Finance and principal accounting officer, effective December1, 2017.

Jay P. Shepard, 59, has served as our President and Chief Executive Officer since May 2015 and as a member of our Board of Directors since December 2013. From December 2013 to May 2015, Mr.Shepard also served as the chairman of our Board of Directors. Until May 2015, Mr.Shepard was an Executive Partner at Sofinnova Ventures, or Sofinnova, a venture capital firm focused on the healthcare industry, which he joined as an Executive in Residence in 2008. Mr.Shepard previously served as President and Chief Executive Officer and was a member of the Board of Directors of NextWave Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a specialty pharmaceutical company developing and commercializing unique pediatric products utilizing proprietary drug delivery technology that was acquired by Pfizer in November 2012, from January 2010 to November 2012. From December 2005 to October 2007, Mr.Shepard served as President and Chief Executive Officer and a member of the Board of Directors of Ilypsa Inc., a biopharmaceutical company pioneering novel non-absorbed polymeric drugs for renal and metabolic disorders that was acquired by Amgen in July 2007. Mr.Shepard has served on the boards of directors of numerous public companies, including Ilypsa, Relypsa, Inc., Durect Corporation, Bullet Biotechnology, Inc., Intermune, Inc., and Marinus Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation. Mr.Shepard holds a B.S. in Business Administration from the University of Arizona. We believe Mr.Shepard is able to make valuable contributions to our Board of Directors due to his extensive knowledge of the biopharmaceutical industry and his prior experience as an executive officer.

Kevin Haas, 52, has served as our Vice President, Finance since December 2017. Mr.Haas previously served as our

Corporate Controller from January 2014 until December 2017 and was a consultant to the Company from December 2013 to January 2014. From May 2005 to June 2013, and prior to its acquisition by Roche Holdings, Inc., Mr.Haas served in various financial management roles at Intermune, Inc., including Director of Financial Reporting and most recently as Director of Financial Planning. Prior to his tenure at Intermune, Mr.Haas spent three years at Gilead Sciences, Inc. from 2001 until 2004 and eight years at Cisco Systems, Inc. from 1993 until 2001 in various capacities in finance. He began his career in public accounting with Grant Thornton, LLP. Mr.Haas holds a B.S. in Business Administration, emphasis Accounting, from Western State Colorado University.

There are no family relationships between either Mr.Shepard or Mr.Haas and any director or executive officer of the Company, and neither has any direct or indirect material interest in any transaction required to be disclosed to Item 404(a) of Regulation S-K.

About VERSARTIS, INC. (NASDAQ:VSAR)

Versartis, Inc. is an endocrine-focused biopharmaceutical company. The Company is engaged in developing long-acting recombinant human growth hormone (rhGH), somavaratan (VRS-317), for growth hormone deficiency (GHD), an orphan disease. The Company’s product pipeline includes VRS-317 and XTEN Technology. The Company’s VRS-317 combines the rhGH amino acid sequence utilized in approved rhGH products with a half-life extension technology, XTEN, to enable less frequent administration. The XTEN technology consists of hydrophilic amino acids added at the genetic level as part of the manufacturing process. The Company’s XTEN is a recombinant polypeptide designed to extend the in vivo half-life of peptides and proteins in a tunable manner. The XTEN sequence consists of hydrophilic amino acids and possesses various additional properties, which are used for the development of protein pharmaceuticals.