On January 8, 2020, the Company announced that Louis Matis, MD, will step down as Senior Vice President and Chief Development Officer, effective January 10, 2020. In connection with Dr. Matis’s resignation, the Company entered into a letter agreement (the “Letter Agreement”) with Dr. Matis on January 3, 2020, outlining the terms of his separation. to the terms and conditions of the Letter Agreement, Dr. Matis will receive continued payment of his base salary for six months; payment of the monthly amount then being charged by the Company for COBRA coverage with respect to Dr. Matis and his dependents for six months; and payment of his 2019 annual discretionary bonus. In addition, the Letter Agreement provides that the vesting of seventy-five percent (75%) of the unvested portions of Dr. Matis’s stock option awards will be accelerated.

Dr. Matis’s right to receive the foregoing is subject to, among other obligations, his execution of a release of claims against the Company, and his agreement that the intellectual property, non-solicitation, and non-competition provisions set forth in his original employment agreement, dated July 20, 2015, will continue to apply in accordance with their terms.

The foregoing is a summary description of the terms and conditions of the Letter Agreement and is qualified in its entirety by reference to the Letter Agreement, a copy of which will be filed as an exhibit to the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2019.

About PIERIS PHARMACEUTICALS, INC. (NASDAQ:PIRS)

Pieris Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company. The Company’s pipeline includes immuno-oncology multi-specifics tailored for the tumor micro-environment, an inhaled Anticalin to treat uncontrolled asthma and a half-life-optimized Anticalin to treat anemia. Its Anticalins proteins are a class of low molecular-weight therapeutic proteins derived from lipocalins, which are naturally occurring low-molecular weight human proteins typically found in blood plasma and other bodily fluids. It is focused on developing three drug candidates, which include PRS-080, PRS-060 and PRS-300 series. Its PRS-080 is an Anticalin drug candidate targeting hepcidin. The Company’s second Anticalin drug candidate, PRS-060, binds to the IL-4 receptor alpha-chain (IL-4RA), thereby inhibiting the actions of IL-4 and IL-13, two cytokines known to be mediators in the inflammatory cascade that causes asthma and other inflammatory diseases. PRS-343 is an Anticalin-based drug candidate.