Kite Pharma, Inc. (NASDAQ:KITE) Files An 8-K Departure of Directors or Certain Officers; Election of Directors; Appointment of Certain Officers; Compensatory Arrangements of Certain Officers

Item5.02Departure of Directors or Certain Officers; Election of
Directors; Appointment of Certain Officers; Compensatory
Arrangements of Certain Officers.

Effective January3, 2017, the board of directors (the Board) of
Kite Pharma, Inc. (Kite), based upon a recommendation from the
nominating and corporate governance committee of the Board, voted
to appoint Ian Clark as a director of Kite. Mr.Clark will serve
as a Class II director, which class will stand for re-election at
the 2019 annual meeting of stockholders. The size of the Board
was increased to ten members in order to accommodate the
appointment of Mr.Clark. In addition, Mr.Clark was appointed to
serve as the chairman of Kites newly established
commercialization committee and will join Kites audit committee.

There are no arrangements or understandings between Mr.Clark and
any other persons to which Mr.Clark was appointed a director of
Kite.

As a non-employee director, Mr.Clark will participate in the
non-employee director compensation arrangements approved by the
Board. On January3, 2017 (the Grant Date), the Board approved an
initial grant to Mr.Clark of (1)a stock option to purchase 17,130
shares of Kites common stock with an exercise price of $45.95,
the closing price of Kites common stock as reported on the NASDAQ
Global Select Market on the Grant Date, and (2)4,690 restricted
stock units (RSUs). The options and RSUs granted to Mr.Clark will
be issued to Kites 2014 Equity Incentive Plan. The option will
vest in 36 equal monthly installments on the last day of each
month following the Grant Date and the RSUs will vest in 12 equal
quarterly installments on the last day of each quarter following
the Grant Date.

In addition, it is expected that Mr.Clark will enter into Kites
standard form of director indemnity agreement. The form of the
indemnity agreement was filed as Exhibit 10.1 to Kites
Registration Statement on Form S-1/A filed with the Securities
and Exchange Commission on June11, 2014 (File No.333-196081) and
is incorporated herein by reference.

A press release announcing Mr.Clarks appointment to the Board is
attached hereto as Exhibit 99.1 and is incorporated herein by
reference.

About Kite Pharma, Inc. (NASDAQ:KITE)

Kite Pharma, Inc. is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company. The Company is focused on the development and commercialization of cancer immunotherapy products to eradicate cancer cells. The Company offers engineered autologous cell therapy (eACT), which is an approach to the treatment of cancer. It is conducting over four pivotal studies of its lead product candidate, KTE-C19, a CAR-based therapy. It is conducting a Phase II clinical trial (ZUMA-1) of KTE-C19 in patients with refractory diffuse large B cell lymphoma (DLBCL), including primary mediastinal B cell lymphoma (PMBCL) and transformed follicular lymphoma (TFL). It is also conducting a Phase II clinical trial (ZUMA-2) of KTE-C19 in patients with relapsed/refractory mantle cell lymphoma (MCL), a Phase I-II clinical trial (ZUMA-3) of KTE-C19 in adult patients with relapsed/refractory acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), and a Phase I-II clinical trial (ZUMA-4) of KTE-C19 in pediatric patients with relapsed/refractory ALL.

Kite Pharma, Inc. (NASDAQ:KITE) Recent Trading Information

Kite Pharma, Inc. (NASDAQ:KITE) closed its last trading session down -0.45 at 48.53 with 1,001,091 shares trading hands.