Dr. Stanley Plotkin serves as a consultant to the vaccine industry and is an emeritus professor at both the Wistar Institute and University of Pennsylvania. He developed the rubella vaccine, which is now used worldwide, and has played a pivotal role in both the development and application of various other vaccines including polio, rabies, varicella, rotavirus and cytomegalovirus. He is the author of more than 800 research papers and has edited several books including the textbook Vaccines. Dr. Plotkin has served as the senior assistant surgeon with the Epidemic Intelligence Service, U.S. Public Health Service, director of the division of infectious diseases at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, associate Chairman of the department of pediatrics at the University of Pennsylvania and Medical Director at Sanofi Pasteur for seven years.
Dr. Anna Durbin is a professor of international health at Johns Hopkins University’s Bloomberg School of Public Health with a joint appointment in the School of Medicine. She is trained in Internal Medicine and Infectious Diseases. Dr. Durbin joined the Center for Immunization Research in 1999 as a Principal Investigator conducting clinical trials for live attenuated flavivirus vaccines. She has expertise in the evaluation of a variety of vaccines, including dengue, West Nile and malaria. Dr. Durbin has served on national and international advisory boards and committees related to dengue and malaria vaccine safety, as well as the JHSPH Institutional Review Board. Dr. Durbin received the NIH Merit Award for outstanding basic and translational research in developing vaccines for the prevention of respiratory virus and flavivirus diseases, the NIH Director’s Award and the Vaccine Industry Excellence Award for Best Academic Research Team.
Thomas Lingelbach, Chief Executive Officer of Valneva commented, “Dr. Plotkin and Dr. Durbin will bring significant expertise to our SAB. We are looking forward to working with our six SAB members whose highly complementary skills and external perspectives will be very valuable in informing our R&D strategy as we move forward.”
Chaired by Dr. Ralf Clemens, Valneva’s SAB includes Dr. Stanley Plotkin and Dr. Anna Durbin, as well as Dr. Norman Baylor, Dr. George Siber and Dr. Alain Munoz who were appointed earlier in 2019.
About Valneva SE
Valneva is a biotech company developing and commercializing vaccines for infectious diseases with major unmet needs. Valneva’s portfolio includes two commercial vaccines for travelers: IXIARO®/JESPECT® indicated for the prevention of Japanese encephalitis and DUKORAL® indicated for the prevention of cholera and, in some countries, prevention of diarrhea caused by ETEC. The Company has various clinical-stage vaccines in development including unique vaccines against Lyme disease and chikungunya. Valneva has operations in Austria, Sweden, the United Kingdom, France, Canada and the US with approximately 490 employees. More information is available at www.valneva.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains certain forward-looking statements relating to the business of Valneva, including with respect to the progress, timing and completion of research, development and clinical trials for product candidates, the ability to manufacture, market, commercialize and achieve market acceptance for product candidates, the ability to protect intellectual property and operate the business without infringing on the intellectual property rights of others, estimates for future performance and estimates regarding anticipated operating losses, future revenues, capital requirements and needs for additional financing. In addition, even if the actual results or development of Valneva are consistent with the forward-looking statements contained in this press release, those results or developments of Valneva may not be indicative of their in the future. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by words such as “could,” “should,” “may,” “expects,” “anticipates,” “believes,” “intends,” “estimates,” “aims,” “targets,” or similar words. These forward-looking statements are based largely on the current expectations of Valneva as of the date of this press release and are subject to a number of known and unknown risks and uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievement expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. In particular, the expectations of Valneva could be affected by, among other things, uncertainties involved in the development and manufacture of vaccines, unexpected clinical trial results, unexpected regulatory actions or delays, competition in general, currency fluctuations, the impact of the global and European credit crisis, and the ability to obtain or maintain patent or other proprietary intellectual property protection. In light of these risks and uncertainties, there can be no assurance that the forward-looking statements made during this presentation will in fact be realized. Valneva is providing the information in these materials as of this press release, and disclaim any intention or obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.