WaterMill Asset Management Refutes Ziopharm Oncology’s Desperate, Low-Road Smear Campaign

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--WaterMill Asset Management Corp. (together with its affiliates, “WaterMill” or “we”), which collectively with the other participants in its consent solicitation beneficially owns approximately 3.3% of the outstanding shares of Ziopharm Oncology, Inc. (NASDAQ: ZIOP) (“Ziopharm” or the “Company”), today responded to the low-road campaign that the incumbent Board of Directors (the “Board”) has apparently initiated in order to smear Holger Weis and misrepresent his more than six-year tenure at DemeRx Incorporated (“DemeRx”). WaterMill believes this seemingly underhanded stunt only reinforces the need for meaningful and urgent boardroom change. It is important to highlight that the incumbent Board’s desperate attack on Mr. Weis comes on the heels of Institutional Shareholder Services Inc. (“ISS”), a leading independent proxy voting advisory firm, recommending that Ziopharm shareholders vote for boardroom change on WaterMill’s WHITE consent card. ISS supports the addition of two WaterMill nominees (Jaime Vieser and Holger Weis) and the removal of two incumbents (Chairman Scott Tarriff and Director Elan Ezickson).