ABEONA THERAPEUTICS INC. (NASDAQ:ABEO) 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

On January 7, 2019, the Board of Directors (the “Board”) of Abeona Therapeutics Inc. (the “Company”) appointed Christine Berni Silverstein, its Senior Vice President, Finance & Investor Relations, as Chief Financial Officer of the Company effective January 8, 2019 (the “Effective Date”). In such role, Ms. Silverstein is replacing Stephen B. Thompson, the Company’s previous principal financial officer, who retired effective December 31, 2018, as disclosed in its Current Report on Form 8-K/A filed on October 5, 2018.

Ms. Silverstein, age 36, previously served as the Company’s Senior Vice President, Finance & Investor Relations since May 2016. From 2014 through April 2016, Ms. Silverstein served as Head of Investor Relations at Relmada Therapeutics, Inc., a clinical stage specialty pharmaceutical company. From 2013 to 2014, Ms. Silverstein served as a managing director at SCO Financial Group, a New York-based corporate advisory firm, where she drove strategy on capital formation and business development opportunities for portfolio companies. Ms. Silverstein began her career as an investment advisor at Royal Alliance Associates, Inc. in 2003, and from 2006 to 2010 led teams at corporate advisory firms The Investor Relations Group and Corporate Profile, LLC. A member of the National Investor Relations Institute, Ms. Silverstein holds a B.S. from the Peter Tobin College of Business, St. John’s University.

In her new role as Chief Financial Officer, Ms. Silverstein will receive an annual base salary of $350,000 and will be eligible for an annual discretionary bonus with a target of 30% of her annual base salary. Subject to approval of the Board’s Compensation Committee at its first regularly scheduled meeting after the Effective Date, Ms. Silverstein will be granted stock options to purchase 20,000 shares of the Company’s common stock to the Company’s 2015 Equity Incentive Plan, with 25% vesting on the one-year anniversary of the Effective Date and the remaining 75% vesting in 36 equal monthly installments thereafter. Ms. Silverstein will be eligible to participate in all employee benefit plans that the Company may establish for similarly situated employees, if and to the extent she is eligible to the terms of such plans and Company policies, which may be modified by the Company at its discretion.

Additionally, on January 7, 2019, the Board appointed Edward Carr as Chief Accounting Officer effective on the Effective Date. Mr. Carr has been serving as the Company’s Vice President, Controller and principal accounting officer since November 26, 2018. The Company announced Mr. Carr’s appointment as Vice President, Controller in its Current Report on Form 8-K filed on November 9, 2018. Mr. Carr’s compensation has not changed as a result of his appointment as Chief Accounting Officer.

On January 8, 2019, the Company issued a press release announcing the appointment of Ms. Silverstein and Mr. Carr to serve as the Company’s Chief Financial Officer and Chief Accounting Officer, respectively. A copy of the press release is furnished as Exhibit 99.1 to this Current Report on Form 8-K and is incorporated into this Item 7.01 by reference.

The information included in Item 7.01 of this Current Report on Form 8-K and the exhibit related hereto shall not be deemed “filed” for purposes of Section 18 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”), or otherwise subject to the liabilities of that section, and shall not be incorporated by reference into any filing of the Company under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or the Exchange Act, regardless of any general incorporation language in such filing.

(d) Exhibits.

ABEONA THERAPEUTICS INC. Exhibit
EX-10.1 2 tv510807_ex10-1.htm EXHIBIT 10.1   Exhibit 10.1     January 8,…
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About ABEONA THERAPEUTICS INC. (NASDAQ:ABEO)

Abeona Therapeutics, Inc. (Abeona), formerly PlasmaTech Biopharmaceuticals, Inc., is focused on developing and delivering gene therapy and plasma-based products for rare diseases. The Company’s lead programs are ABO-101 (AA9 NAGLU) and ABO-102 (scAAV9 SGHG), adeno-associated virus (AAV)-based gene therapies for Sanfilippo syndrome (Mucopolysaccharidosis (MPS) IIIA and IIIB) in collaboration with patient advocate groups, researchers and clinicians. The Company is also developing ABO-201 (scAAV9 CLN3) gene therapy for juvenile Batten disease (JBD), and ABO-301 (AAV LK19 FANCC) for Fanconi anemia (FA) disorder using a clustered, regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)/Cas9-based gene editing approach to gene therapy program for rare blood diseases. It is developing rare plasma protein therapies, including PTB-101 SDF Alpha (alpha-1 protease inhibitor) for inherited chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Its product pipeline also consists of MuGard and ProdiGard.