NANTKWEST, INC. (NASDAQ:NK) 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 September18, 2017, the Board appointed Frederick W. Driscoll to the Board, effective immediately, with a term expiring at the Company’s 2018 annual meeting of stockholders. Mr.Driscoll will also serve on the audit committee of the Board.

Since 2013, Mr.Driscoll, age 66, has served as Chief Financial Officer at Flexion Therapeutics, Inc., a publicly traded specialty pharmaceutical company. Prior to Flexion, he was Chief Financial Officer at Novavax, Inc., a publicly traded biopharmaceutical company, from 2009 to 2013. From 2008 to 2009, Mr.Driscoll served as Chief Executive Officer of Genelabs Technologies, Inc., a publicly traded biopharmaceutical and diagnostics company later acquired by GlaxoSmithKline. He previously served as Genelabs’ Chief Financial Officer from 2007 to 2008. From 2000 to 2006, Mr.Driscoll served as Chief Executive Officer at OXiGENE, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company. Mr.Driscoll has also served as Chairman of the Board and Audit Committee Chair at OXiGENE and as a member of the Audit Committee for Cynapsus Therapeutics, Inc., which was sold to Sunovion Pharmaceuticals in 2016. Mr.Driscoll earned a Bachelor’s degree in accounting and finance from Bentley University.

In accordance with the Company’s outside director compensation policy (the “Outside Director Compensation Policy”), Mr.Driscoll was granted a restricted stock unit award (the “RSU”) on September18, 2017 with a value of $325,000, vesting monthly over a three year period, in each case subject to Mr.Driscoll’s continued service to the Company. The RSU is subject to the terms and conditions of the Company’s 2015 Equity Incentive Plan and the related RSU agreement. Mr.Driscoll will also be eligible for equity award grants on the same terms as other non-employee members of the Board, including an annual grant of RSUs for continuing directors with a value of $100,000, vesting on the 1 year anniversary of the grant, provided that such non-employee director continues to serve as a service provider through the applicable vesting date.

Furthermore, Mr.Driscoll is entitled to receive cash compensation in accordance with the terms and conditions of the Company’s Outside Director Compensation Policy. Under the Outside Director Compensation Policy, each non-employee director receives cash compensation of $50,000 annually for service as a Board member; $10,000 per year additionally for service as an audit committee member; $7,500 per year additionally for service as a member of the other committees; $10,000 per year additionally for service as chairman of the audit committee; and $7,500 per year additionally for service as chairman of the other committees. We will also reimburse Mr.Driscoll for all reasonable expenses in connection with his services to us.

Mr.Driscoll executed the Company’s standard form of indemnification agreement, which form has been filed as Exhibit 10.1 to the Company’s Registration Statement on Form S-1 (File No.333- 205124) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on June19, 2015, and is incorporated herein in its entirety by reference.

There is no arrangement or understanding between Mr.Driscoll and any other persons to which Mr.Driscoll was selected as a director. In addition, Mr.Driscoll is not a party to any transaction, or series of transactions, required to be disclosed to Item 404(a) of Regulation S-K.

About NANTKWEST, INC. (NASDAQ:NK)

NantKwest, Inc., formerly Conkwest, Inc., is a biotechnology company engaged in developing targeted direct-acting immunotherapeutic agents for a range of clinical conditions. The Company is focused on harnessing its immune system by using the natural killer (NK) cell to treat cancer, infectious diseases and inflammatory diseases. Its product candidates include activated NK cells (aNK), high-affinity NKs (haNKs) and target activated Natural Killers (taNKs). It develops aNK product candidates for the treatment of virally-induced cancers, such as polyoma virus induced Merkel Cell Carcinoma, Human Papilloma Virus induced cervical, and head and neck cancers, as well as infectious diseases, such as Ebola and other serious viral, fungal and bacterial infections. It also develops haNKs for the treatment of solid tumors, breast cancer, multiple myeloma, lymphoma and colorectal cancer, and taNKs for the treatment of brain cancer, breast cancer, non-hodgkin lymphoma and myelodysplastic syndrome.