Rivus Pharmaceuticals Provides Senior Leadership Update

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va., and SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., July 3, 2025 – Rivus Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company dedicated to treating obesity and the resulting cardiometabolic diseases, has announced that the company’s co-founder and Chief Operating Officer Allen Cunningham has been appointed Chief Executive Officer (CEO) by the company's Board of Directors. Jayson Dallas, M.D., who served as CEO, has stepped down. Mr. Cunningham previously led Rivus as CEO until June 2023. “With the recent positive topline results from our Phase 2 M-ACCEL study of HU6 in MASH, Rivus continues to establish encouraging clinical data for its Controlled Metabolic Accelerators in treating obesity and its continuum of disease,” said Mr. Cunningham. “Jayson has been instrumental in building a strong foundation for the company and I would like to thank him for his contributions in establishing our pipeline of CMAs, including our lead program HU6. I look forward to stepping back into the CEO role to guide the company as we continue to advance this exciting new class of therapeutics.”

About Controlled Metabolic Accelerators (CMAs)

Rivus is advancing a new class of investigational therapies called Controlled Metabolic Accelerators (CMAs) that have the potential to improve metabolic health for people with obesity and associated metabolic diseases. Rivus’ CMAs are oral small molecules in development to increase resting metabolic rate, which results in increased consumption of energy, primarily from fat. The loss in fat mass may address multiple cardiometabolic conditions driven by adiposity. CMAs increase metabolism in a manner that is consistent and imperceptible to the patient by leveraging the natural metabolic process of mitochondrial uncoupling. In preclinical studies, mitochondrial uncoupling was shown to account for a significant portion (20% to 50%) of daily energy expenditure. Caloric- restriction strategies, on the other hand, reduce energy input and result in loss of muscle mass as well as fat. Initial data in humans has demonstrated that CMAs provided fat-selective weight loss, improved insulin sensitivity, and significantly reduced oxidative stress and inflammation.

About HU6

HU6 is a novel, oral, once-daily investigational therapy, designed to treat obesity and its comorbidities including liver and cardiovascular disease. HU6 imperceptibly increases resting metabolism resulting in sustained body fat loss while preserving muscle mass. The current clinical development of HU6 is focused on metabolic diseases with the greatest therapeutic need: obesity-related heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) and metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH)/metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD). To date, more than 450 patients have been treated with HU6 as part of the clinical development program.

About Rivus Pharmaceuticals

Rivus Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a leader in mitochondrial biology, is dedicated to improvingmetabolic health by advancing a new class of investigational therapies called Controlled Metabolic Accelerators (CMAs). Rivus’ lead CMA is the investigational small molecule HU6 in clinical development to treat obesity-related heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF), metabolic dysfunction associated steatohepatitis (MASH)/metabolic dysfunctionassociated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) and Type 2 diabetes. In addition to HU6, Rivus is developing a pipeline of oral small molecule CMAs. For more information, please visit www.rivuspharma.com.

Contact:

Nicole Goelz
Real Chemistry
ngoelz@realchemistry.com
(408) 568-4292