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
Item 5.02 Departure of Directors or Certain Officers; Election of Directors; Appointment of Certain Officers; Compensatory Arrangements of Certain Officers.

On April 10, 2017, the Compensation Committee (the “Committee”) of the Board of Directors (the “Board”) of Kite Pharma, Inc. (“Kite”) considered a milestone achievement award for Arie Belldegrun, M.D., FACS, President and Chief Executive Officer, Cynthia M. Butitta, Chief Operating Officer, David Chang, M.D., Chief Medical Officer and Executive Vice President of Research and Development, Helen Kim, Executive Vice President of Business Development, Paul Jenkinson, Chief Financial Officer, and Jeff Wiezorek, M.D., Senior Vice President of Clinical Development.

The Committee desired to recognize Kite’s executive officers’ achievements, increase retention incentives and motivate the executive officers for outstanding future performance, particularly to recognize the submission of Kite’s Biologics License Application to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) for the accelerated approval of axicabtagene ciloleucel, and to obtain approval for axicabtagene ciloleucel. As a result, the Committee approved the grant of restricted stock units (“RSUs”) with 50% vesting upon FDA approval of axicabtagene ciloleucel in the amount of (1) 15,000 RSUs to Dr. Chang, (2) 10,000 RSUs to Dr. Wiezorek, (3) 8,000 RSUs to Ms. Butitta, (4) 6,000 RSUs to Ms. Kim and (5) 2,500 RSUs to Mr. Jenkinson.

In addition, the Committee recommended to the Board that Dr. Belldegrun receive 100,000 RSUs with 50% vesting upon FDA approval of axicabtagene ciloleucel and 50% vesting on the one year anniversary of such approval. On April 10, 2017, the Board approved the proposed grant to Dr. Belldegrun.

The RSUs granted to the Kite executive officers will be issued to Kite’s 2014 Equity Incentive Plan.

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 up +0.91 at 79.20 with 656,287 shares trading hands.