MannKind Corporation announced Friday that Stuart A. Tross, Ph.D., has joined the company as its Chief People Officer, with responsibilities for Human Resources, Information Technology and West Coast Facilities. MannKind Corporation also confirmed that following the completion of initial formulation studies it received a $1 million milestone payment from Receptor Life Sciences, Inc. on Friday, December 30, 2016.

Dr. Tross will be integral in accelerating the company’s development into a world-class, global biopharmaceutical company centered on the value of its human capital. He will be reporting to Matthew Pfeffer, Chief Executive Officer, and will serve on MannKind’s executive leadership team.

Dr. Tross joins MannKind with several decades of leadership experience in the life sciences industry. From 2006 to 2016 he served in roles of increasing responsibility at Amgen, the last three years as Senior Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer responsible for Human Resources and Security on a global basis. From 1998 to 2006 he served in a series of leadership roles at Bristol-Myers Squibb, the last three years as Vice President and Global Head of Human Resources for Mead Johnson Company. Stuart received a B.S. degree from Cornell University and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Industrial-Organization Psychology from the Georgia Institute of Technology.

“To welcome Stuart to our executive management team, with his extensive biopharmaceutical background, is both timely and opportunistic. The addition of his wide-ranging experience will be transformational at MannKind,” said Mr. Pfeffer. “Stuart’s experience will not only facilitate a quick and efficient expansion of our Afrezza launch capability, but he will be instrumental in building an organization to accommodate other strategic initiatives, such as product development and global expansion.”

Dr. Tross commented, “I am excited to join the MannKind team during this time of rapid transformation. Afrezza is an innovative product in an area of unmet patient need with significant growth potential, and there are a number of additional growth opportunities in the pipeline. I look forward to contributing to MannKind’s future.”

The payment from Receptor Life Sciences, Inc. is part of a previously announced collaboration and license agreement between the company and RLS.

Matthew J. Pfeffer, Chief Executive Officer of MannKind, commented, “The results of these studies have further validated the versatility of our formulation technology. We are pleased with the progress to date and look forward to the next phase of product development in our collaboration with RLS.”

About MannKind Corporation

MannKind Corporation (MNKD) (MNKD) focuses on the discovery and development of therapeutic products for patients with diseases such as diabetes. MannKind maintains a website at http://www.mannkindcorp.com to which MannKind regularly posts copies of its press releases as well as additional information about MannKind. Interested persons can subscribe on the MannKind website to e-mail alerts that are sent automatically when MannKind issues press releases, files its reports with the Securities and Exchange Commission or posts certain other information to the website.