Helix BioPharma Strengthens Biotech Leadership and Corporate Governance through planned Board Changes

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Vancouver, British Columbia; September 28, 2026 | The Newswire | – Helix BioPharma Corp. (TSX: “HBP”, OTC PINK: “HBPCF”, FRANKFURT: “HBP0”) (“Helix” or the “Company”), a clinical-stage oncology company developing novel therapies for difficult-to-treat cancers, is pleased to announce the appointments of Karen Krumeich, Jamieson Bondarenko, CFA, CMT, Charmaine Lykins, MBA, and Dirk Brockstedt, Ph.D., to its Board of Directors (the “Board”), effective September 28, 2026. Ms. Krumeich has also been appointed Chair of the Board and Audit Committee. To facilitate the Board transition plan, the Company also announces that Mr. Jacek Antas, Ms. Malgorzata Laube and Mr. Jerzy Leszczynski have voluntarily and concurrently resigned from the Board.

The changes form part of the Company’s ongoing Board renewal, strengthening Helix’s governance with complementary experience spanning biotechnology leadership, corporate governance and finance, scientific and clinical development, commercialization, and capital markets.

“We are very pleased to welcome Karen, Jamieson, Charmaine and Dirk to Helix’s Board,” said Thomas Mehrling, M.D., Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of Helix BioPharma.  “Together, these Board members bring an exceptional breadth of complementary expertise across biotechnology leadership, scientific and clinical development, capital markets, corporate governance, and commercialization. Their collective experience significantly strengthens our Board at an important stage in Helix’s evolution. We believe their strategic insight, industry relationships and proven leadership will be invaluable as we advance our oncology pipeline, execute our strategic objectives, and position Helix for sustainable, long-term value creation for our shareholders.”

Dr. Mehrling added, “We also extend our sincere thanks to Jacek, Malgorzata and Jerzy for their service and contributions to Helix. We are grateful for their commitment to the Company and wish them every success in the future.”

Karen Krumeich
Karen Krumeich is an experienced life sciences financial executive with expertise spanning venture and public equity financing, investor relations, strategic planning, corporate governance, business development, and operations. She has served as Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President for a number of public and private life-sciences companies, including Kazia Therapeutics, TheraVectys and Soligenix, bringing direct experience supporting companies with oncology programs in development. Ms. Krumeich has extensive experience working with corporate boards and presenting to Audit Committees, and currently serves as fractional Chief Financial Officer with the Lisa Stone Group and as angel investor and Managing Director of Golden Seeds. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Pharmacy from the University of Toledo College of Pharmacy and successfully completed the CPA examination at postgraduate level.

Jamieson Bondarenko, CFA, CMT
Jamieson Bondarenko is an active investor, capital markets executive and public company director with experience advising early-stage life sciences companies on capital markets and corporate development strategy. He currently serves as Chairman of the Board of BriaCell Therapeutics Corp. and as a capital markets advisor to MustGrow Biologics Corp. Previously, Mr. Bondarenko held senior equity capital markets and investment banking roles at Eight Capital and Dundee Securities, following roles at Wellington West Capital Markets and HSBC Securities (Canada). He is a Chartered Financial Analyst and Chartered Market Technician.

Charmaine Lykins, MBA
Charmaine Lykins is a seasoned biopharmaceutical executive and commercial leader with more than 30 years of experience spanning commercial strategy and execution, product launch and lifecycle management, market development, and organizational leadership. She currently serves as Chief Executive Officer of Transneural Therapeutics, a preclinical-stage company developing novel therapies for neuropsychiatric disorders, and as strategic advisor to several predominantly CNS-focused biotechnology and healthcare organizations. Previously, she held senior commercial leadership roles at Karuna Therapeutics, MapLight Therapeutics and Acadia Pharmaceuticals, following earlier roles at Lundbeck, Eli Lilly and Sunovion Pharmaceuticals (now Sumitomo Pharma). Over the course of her career, Ms. Lykins has contributed to the commercialization and early commercial strategy of multiple first- and best-in-class therapies, including COBENFY®, NUPLAZID®, REXULTI®, ABILIFY MAINTENA®, LATUDA®, CYMBALTA®, PROZAC® and ZYPREXA®. She holds an MBA in International Business from the University of South Carolina and a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry and Honors Humanities from Ball State University.

Dirk Brockstedt, Ph.D.
Dr. Dirk Brockstedt is a biotechnology executive and scientist with more than 25 years of experience in research, translational science, and clinical development. He currently serves as Scientific Advisor to Remedy Plan Therapeutics and as scientific consultant to Mulberry Biotherapeutics. Previously, Dr. Brockstedt served as Chief Scientific Officer of RAPT Therapeutics, where he led research and development activities through the company’s acquisition by GSK in 2026 and, before that, as Executive Vice President of Research & Development at Aduro BioTech, having played an instrumental role in taking both companies public in 2019 and 2015, respectively. He brings deep expertise in immunology, oncology and drug development spanning discovery through Phase 2, together with executive management and Board-level experience in R&D oversight, partnering, licensing, due diligence, and institutional investor and financing roadshows. Dr. Brockstedt holds a Ph.D. in Cellular Biology and Immunology from the University of Kiel, with graduate research conducted at Stanford University, is an inventor on nine issued U.S. patents, and has authored over 50 peer-reviewed publications in immunology, oncology and vaccine development, including in Nature Medicine, PNAS, and Clinical Cancer Research.

Karen Krumeich, Chair of the Board of Helix BioPharma, said “I am honored to join Helix as Chair at an important stage in the Company’s development. The Board brings together complementary scientific, commercial, financial and capital markets expertise, and I look forward to working with Thomas and the management team as Helix advances its pipeline and executes on its strategic priorities.”

Following such changes, the Board is comprised of six directors, four of which are independent. The Company also reconstituted its Audit Committee, which is comprised entirely of independent directors consisting of Karen Krumeich as Chair, Zachary T. Stadnyk and Jamieson Bondarenko.

About Helix BioPharma
Helix BioPharma Corp. is a clinical-stage oncology company focused on developing therapies for underserved patient populations with difficult-to-treat cancers. The Company’s pipeline is led by L-DOS47, a clinical-stage antibody-enzyme conjugate being developed as a combination therapy for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Additional pipeline candidates include LEUMUNA™, a pre-IND oral immune checkpoint modulator for post-transplant leukemia relapse, and GEMCEDA™, a pre-IND gemcitabine prodrug for advanced solid tumors.

Helix BioPharma’s common shares are listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX: HBP), quoted on the OTC Pink Market (HBPCF), and listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (FWB: HBP0). For more information, please visit: https://www.helixbiopharma.com/

For more information, please contact:
Helix BioPharma Corp.
789 West Pender Street, Suite 480
Vancouver, British Columbia V6C 1H2
Tel: +1 857 208 7687
Thomas Mehrling, M.D., Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer and Director
corporate@helixbiopharma.com

Forward-Looking Statements and Risks and Uncertainties
This news release contains forward-looking statements and information (collectively, “forward-looking statements”) within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws. Forward-looking statements are statements and information that are not historical facts but instead include financial projections and estimates, statements regarding plans, goals, objectives, intentions and expectations with respect to the Company’s future business, operations, research and development, including the Company’s activities relating to L-DOS47, LEUMUNA, and GEMCEDA. Forward-looking statements can further be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as “ongoing”, “estimates”, “expects”, or the negative thereof or any other variations thereon or comparable terminology referring to future events or results, or that events or conditions “will”, “may”, “could”, or “should” occur or be achieved, or comparable terminology referring to future events or results.

Forward-looking statements are necessarily based on a number of estimates and assumptions that the Company considered appropriate and reasonable as of the date such information is given, including but not limited to the assumptions regarding favorable research and development on the Company’s therapies and pipeline and continued ability to finance operations and growth. Forward-looking statements are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors, many of which are beyond the Company’s control, that may cause actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements, including but not limited to the risk that the Company’s assumptions on which its forward-looking statements are based may not be accurate; regulatory risks; risks related to continued favorable results from the Company’s R&D efforts; and the risk factors disclosed in the Company’s periodic reports publicly filed and available on its SEDAR+ profile at www.sedarplus.ca. No assurance can be given that any of the events anticipated by the forward-looking statements will transpire or occur. The forward-looking statements contained in this news release are made as of the date of this announcement and the Company does not assume any obligation to update any forward-looking statement or information should those beliefs, assumptions, opinions or expectations, or other circumstances change, except as required by law.
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Jacek Antas

Chief Executive Officer

Jacek Antas is a shareholder of the Company, has spent more than 25 years in the financial services industry holding various positions in sales and consulting.

Mr. Antas obtained a master’s degree from the Warsaw School of Economics and has served as a board member of various
companies throughout his career.

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James B. Murphy

Chief Financial Officer

Mr. Murphy is a certified public accountant with over thirty years of experience in finance and operations management. He is currently a consultant with Danforth Advisors LLC (“Danforth”), a leading provider of outsourced strategic and operational specialists across functions in the life sciences industry. While at Danforth, Mr. Murphy has served over fifteen private and publicly held life sciences companies as CFO and CFO Advisor, helping them secure over USD 0.5 billion in financing and successfully execute pivotal asset transactions. Mr. Murphy functions as a consultant to Helix pursuant to a consulting agreement between the Company and Danforth.

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Thomas Mehrling

Medical Adviser

Thomas Mehrling (PhD in Pharmacology and MD) has over 20 years’ experience in multinational Pharma companies developing novel oncology compounds from preclinical research through to registration. Prior to entering the industry, he spent 13 years as an MD at the University Hospital in Frankfurt, working on preclinical and translational projects. He served as Director of European Oncology at Mundipharma International (2003–2013), building the company’s first European oncology business from the ground up out of Cambridge, UK, and completing the clinical development, registration and launch of two major products in Europe, DepoCyte® and Levact® (Ribomustin® and Treanda®). In 2013, he led the establishment of the Mundipharma Group’s start-up, Mundipharma EDO, developing anti-cancer therapeutics for solid tumours out of Basel, Switzerland.

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Kim Gaspar

Director Quality Assurance

Kim is the Director of Quality Assurance at Helix BioPharma Corp. An experienced quality assurance professional with expertise in Canadian, US, and EU regulations, she has been involved in all aspects of Phase I/II biopharmaceutical product development over the years, including regulatory submissions, QC laboratory compliance, tech transfer and third-party oversight of CMC activities, clinical QA, and bioanalytical data analysis. Kim joined Helix in 2000, transitioning into QA in 2003. She holds a B.Sc in Biochemistry and a Ph.D in Veterinary Physiological Sciences, both from the University of Saskatchewan.

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Brenda Lee

Director Clinical Operations

Brenda is the Clinical Operations Director at Helix Biopharma Corp. A clinical research operations professional with 25 years of experience managing clinical trials, ranging from early Phase I to late Phase IIIb/IV studies, she brings experience in clinical study protocol writing and development, trial start-up and vendor management, and a proven track record in planning and managing clinical trials to quality standards, timelines and budget. Brenda joined Helix Biopharma Corp. in 2018, working to advance the clinical program of L-DOS47. She holds B.Sc and M.Sc. degrees from the University of Toronto, specializing in Nutritional Sciences and Human Biology.

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Jerzy Leszczynski

Director

Jerzy Leszczynski is a shareholder of the Company, has spent more than 35 years developing businesses and has served in the capacity of board member of various real estate development companies. Mr. Leszczynski obtained his Master of Science in Chemistry from the Warsaw Institute of Technology.

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Janusz Grabski

Director, Chair of Audit Committee

Janusz (John) Grabski is a lawyer specialized in corporate and real estate law with over twenty years of experience.

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Malgorzata Laube

Director

Malgorzata Laube has over 19 years of experience in nuclear medicine. In her last role with Alberta Health Services, she was the Department Supervisor, Nuclear Medicine at Royal Alexandra Hospital. Ms. Laube obtained a MSc degree in Environmental Engineering from the Warsaw University of Technology and is based in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

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Jacek Antas

Chairman of the Board

Jacek Antas is a shareholder of the Company, has spent more than 25 years in the financial services industry holding various positions in sales and consulting.

Mr. Antas obtained a master’s degree from the Warsaw School of Economics and has served as a board member of various
companies throughout his career.

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Jonathan Davis

Advisor, ADC Discovery

Jonathan Davis received his Ph.D. from University of California, San Francisco, where he studied protein structure and function using NMR. After a post-doc at Harvard Medical School exploring RNA selection and structure in the labs of Jack Szostak and Gerhard Wagner, he went to work at EMD Serono, where his work involved improving antibody-based therapeutics, inventing a platform technology for generating heterodimeric Fcs as a basis for multifunctional molecules, and developing a novel scaffold based on an artificially-designed protein from David Baker’s lab. In 2008 he took a job at Bristol-Myers Squibb in Waltham/Cambridge MA, working on antibody discovery and platform development in a wide range of therapeutic areas, with a particular focus on multispecific therapeutics. He moved to Madison, WI in 2019 to take on the role of VP of Innovation and Strategy at Invenra, a biotech focused on bispecific antibodies, and where he is currently head of the Scientific Advisory Board. In early 2024 he left the corporate world to found Creative Antibodies, a consulting firm that helps guide companies to successful antibody discovery and development projects, from mAbs to multispecifics, ADCs, and other formats. Outside of science, Jonathan is a conservatory trained cellist, plays numerous other instruments, and founded the UCSF Orchestra (now Symphony Parnassus) in San Francisco, where he was Music Director for six years.

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Davide Guggi

Advisor, CMC

Davide graduated as a pharmacist and received his PhD in Pharmaceutical Technology and Biotechnology from the University of Vienna. He has over 20 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry, principally in the field of oncology. At the beginning of his career, Davide led oncology business units and commercial departments at Mundipharma and Gilead across Austria and Eastern Europe. Since over 10 years he has been working as a CMC expert, covering operational and regulatory CMC functions on behalf of over 20 different small- and medium-sized biotech companies across the world. He has served as CMC Director and CSO/CTO for several years, developing both small molecules and biologics (mABs, Fab, ADCs and Radio-immuno-conjugates) from early discovery to NDA/BLA in the US, EU and Canada, with a focus on First-in-Human and Phase I/II studies in oncology indications.

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Tumor Defense Breaker™, L-DOS47

L‑DOS47 is a first‑in‑class, clinical-stage antibody‑enzyme conjugate designed to deliver a game-changing assist to anti-cancer immunity and today’s leading cancer immunotherapies for the treatment of prevalent, hard-to-treat solid tumors. The compound precisely targets CEACAM6, a cell-surface protein overexpressed in non‑small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and other aggressive tumors, where it delivers an enzymatic payload that raises the extracellular pH of the acidic tumor microenvironment (TME). By neutralizing tumor acidity, L-DOS47 restores immune cell infiltration and activity, helps turn immunologically “cold” tumors “hot”, and enhances the therapeutic reach of immune checkpoint inhibitors. With patented composition-of-matter coverage through 2036 and demonstrated synergy with PD-1 inhibitor, pembrolizumab, L-DOS47 is poised to significantly increase the efficacy of immune checkpoint blockade and unlock broader and more durable responses in NSCLC and other aggressive solid tumors.



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LEUMUNA™

LEUMUNA™ is an oral immune checkpoint modulator designed to activate the donor immune system to recognize and fight relapsing leukemia in patients who have undergone allogeneic stem cell transplantation (allo-SCT). Although a life-saving procedure, up to 30% of patients who undergo allo-SCT see their cancer return, facing a median survival of just four months. LEUMUNA aims to offer these patients a new lease on life, by activating an immune cascade and inciting graft-versus-leukemia (GvL) effect, potentially offering long-term remission. Backed by strong preclinical data and a promising safety record from trials with its precursor compound, ulodesine, LEUMUNA offers a patient‑friendly, oral approach to a difficult-to-treat condition, with patent protection through 2041 and an Orphan Drug Designation granted by the US FDA.



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GEMCEDA™

GEMCEDA is a first-in-class oral prodrug of gemcitabine that opens up the possibility for convenient at-home administration, metronomic dosing and seamless integration into combination regimens with immune checkpoint inhibitors. To date, gemcitabine is only administered intravenously because oral forms have shown poor bioavailability of about 10%. GEMCEDA was developed as a prodrug to enable new uses of gemcitabine by combining it with cedazuridine, an enzyme inhibitor that helps boost its bioavailability to 90%. This remarkable innovation allows for greater flexibility in dosing schedules, fewer clinic visits, and a better quality of life, while achieving bioavailability on par with intravenous gemcitabine. Supported by a well‑established safety profile, scalable manufacturing, and patent coverage to 2043, GEMCEDA reimagines how chemotherapy can fit into patients’ lives.



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