Inhibikase adds Kailera's Scott Wasserman to its board as Dennis Berman steps down

Inhibikase Therapeutics (Nasdaq: IKT) filled and vacated a board seat on the same day. Scott M. Wasserman, a cardiologist and the chief medical officer of Kailera Therapeutics, became a Class III director on October 19, 2026, the effective date the company gave for Dennis Berman's resignation from the board, from the chair of its compensation committee and from its audit committee. The Form 8-K was filed October 20, with the announcement carried as Exhibit 99.1.

The filing treats the two moves as one event: the board appointed Wasserman on the recommendation of its corporate governance and nominating committee, and it recorded Berman's departure the same day. Neither document gives a reason for the resignation beyond the statement that it was not a disagreement.

A Class III term and a compensation committee seat

The appointment carries a defined term. The filing says Wasserman will serve as a Class III director until the company's annual meeting of stockholders in 2029, or until his earlier death, resignation or removal. He takes a seat on the compensation committee, the committee Berman had chaired, and the board determined he is independent under the listing standards of Nasdaq and the rules of the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The filing also closes off the usual sources of governance friction. It states that no arrangements or understandings with any other person governed his selection, and that there are no transactions in which the company is a party and in which he has a material interest requiring disclosure under Item 404(a) of Regulation S-K. He signed an indemnification agreement consistent with the form previously filed with the company's most recent annual report.

An Amgen résumé built on cardiovascular approvals

Wasserman's industry career centers on Amgen Inc., where the release says he was vice president of global development and therapeutic area head for bone, cardiovascular, metabolic and neuroscience, and the company's first cardiologist. It credits him with leading global development and approvals of Repatha, being instrumental in the development and U.S. FDA approval of Evenity, and overseeing the U.S. approval of Aimovig. He was later chief executive and co-founder of Latigo Biotherapeutics and a venture partner at Frazier Life Sciences; before industry he was on the Stanford University faculty in cardiovascular medicine.

Amit Munshi, the board chair, tied the appointment to the company's single pivotal program. “Scott has taken multiple programs from early development through global approval, and he has built clinical organizations at both large and emerging companies,” Munshi said, adding that the board looks forward to his expertise as Inhibikase advances the global Phase 3 IMPROVE-PAH study of IKT-001. Wasserman's own statement makes the same link: “PAH is a progressive, life-threatening disease, and the pedigree of imatinib together with the recent preclinical and Phase 1 data for IKT-001 point to a very promising role for this asset in this difficult to treat condition”.

A 310,000-share grant, and no quarterly numbers

The compensation is set out in a single sentence of the filing: an initial grant of non-qualified stock options to buy up to 310,000 shares, plus cash for board and committee service under the company's Non-Employee Director Compensation Policy. The exercise price, the vesting schedule and the cash retainer amounts are not disclosed; the filing points to the policy, which it notes may be amended. Berman's exit, by contrast, is described as a resignation and the filing says he advised the company that “his decision to resign was not the result of any disagreement with the Company or its management on any matter relating to the Company’s operations, policies or practices.” Munshi thanked him for “his many contributions to the Company during his years of service”.

This is not an earnings report. The 8-K carries Items 5.02, 7.01 and 9.01 only: no revenue, net loss, cash balance or guidance appears, and the exhibit is furnished rather than filed for purposes of Section 18 of the Exchange Act. What the documents do establish is the board that will oversee IKT-001, a prodrug of imatinib mesylate for pulmonary arterial hypertension, an orphan indication the release says affects approximately 50,000 Americans and is being studied in a single pivotal Phase 3 trial at approximately 180 sites worldwide.

The dated checkpoints from here are the company's next quarterly report on Form 10-Q, further enrollment disclosures on IMPROVE-PAH, and the 2029 annual meeting that ends Wasserman's Class III term. The Non-Employee Director Compensation Policy, not this filing, is where the cash figures for his board service would be found.