SAN DIEGO, July 16, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Gyre Therapeutics, Inc. ("Gyre", "Gyre Therapeutics" or the "Company") (Nasdaq: GYRE), an innovative, commercial-stage biopharmaceutical company with operations in the United States and China, today announced that its Board of Directors has appointed three new members, effective August 1, 2026: Yue Xiong, Ph.D., the Company's Chief Scientific Officer; Maxwell ("Max") Kirkby; and Claire Weston, Ph.D. With these appointments, the Board expands its scientific, clinical development, and cross-border biopharmaceutical operating expertise as Gyre advances its broad pipeline of products targeting numerous therapeutic areas including fibrosis, cancer, inflammation and pain.
Dr. Xiong will serve as a Class I director, with a term expiring at the Company's 2028 annual meeting of stockholders. Mr. Kirkby will serve as a Class II director, with a term expiring at the Company's 2029 annual meeting of stockholders, and has also been appointed to the Compensation Committee of the Board. Dr. Weston will serve as a Class III director, with a term expiring at the Company's 2027 annual meeting of stockholders, and has been appointed to the Audit Committee of the Board.
"We are pleased to welcome Max and Claire to our Board, and to formally recognize Yue's expanded role as a director," said Dr. Ying Luo, President and Chief Executive Officer of Gyre. "Max brings decades of cross-border drug development experience spanning China, Japan, the U.S. and Europe, which is directly relevant as we continue to advance our programs through the clinic worldwide and expand our global footprint. Claire's background building and scaling life sciences companies, together with her operating and governance experience, will strengthen our Audit Committee as we grow as a public company. And Yue's deep scientific leadership, both in ubiquitin biology and in building Cullgen's degrader platform, has already been instrumental to our pipeline — we're glad to have his perspective formally represented at the Board level. Together, these appointments reflect our continued commitment to strong governance as Gyre advances its portfolio of clinical assets and targeted protein degrader and degrader-antibody conjugates platforms."
About the New Directors
Yue Xiong, Ph.D.
Dr. Xiong has served as Gyre's Chief Scientific Officer since May 2026. Dr. Xiong previously served as a member of the board of directors of Cullgen, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company, from 2018 until the closing of Cullgen's merger with Gyre, and as Chief Scientific Officer of Cullgen from August 2020 until closing of Cullgen's merger with Gyre. After completing a postdoctoral fellowship in cell biology at Cold Spring Harbor Lab, Dr. Xiong joined the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1993. He was a William R. Kenan Professor of Biochemistry and Biophysics from January 2005 to July 2020, where he was responsible for classroom teaching and laboratory mentoring of students and trainees, conducting research, recruitment and mentoring of junior faculty and participating other university activities. From September 2006 to July 2020, Dr. Xiong also led the Cancer Cell Biology Program the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, where he was responsible for organizing program activity such as monthly seminars, annual retreat and symposium, preparing annual program progress report to NCI and competing renewal cancer center core grant, and other research activity in the cancer center. Dr. Xiong has an undergraduate degree from Fudan University and a Ph.D. in Biology from the University of Rochester. Dr. Xiong has received several awards for his scholarship and research, published more than 200 research articles in peer-reviewed journals and is a named inventor on two U.S. patents. He was elected as a fellow of American Association for the Advancement of Science ("AAAS") in 2012.