apellis pharmaceuticals is an early stage biotechnology company applying immunotherapy to auto-immune diseases, with an initial emphasis on diseases of the lungs such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (copd), diseases of the retina such as age-related macular degeneration (amd), and rare hematological diseases such as paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (pnh). apellis believes that targeting a key element in the immune system called the complement system can have profound disease modifying benefits. we call this approach complement immunotherapy.