Appoints Sybil Tasker as Senior Vice President, Clinical Research and Development
Names Efe Egharevba as Head of Clinical Project Management
GAITHERSBURG, Md., April 05, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Altimmune, Inc., a clinical stage immunotherapeutic company, today announced the expansion of its clinical development team. Sybil Tasker, M.D., FACP, FIDSA, was appointed as Senior Vice President, Clinical Research and Development. Dr. Tasker will be responsible for overseeing Altimmune’s clinical research and development programs. Efe Egharevba was named Head of Clinical Project Management. He will be responsible for overseeing the ongoing Phase 1 trial of HepTcell in the treatment of chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients.
Bill Enright, President and Chief Executive Officer of Altimmune, remarked, “We are excited to welcome Dr. Tasker and Mr. Egharevba to our team. Dr. Tasker has an impressive background in global clinical development through Phase 3 and post-marketing studies including vaccines and antivirals. She is well positioned to be a key member of the development efforts of the three clinical programs Altimmune expects to run over the course of 2016. Dr. Tasker will play a key role as we move our NasoVAX™ influenza vaccine candidate into a Phase II trial later this year, begin enrollment of our planned Phase I trial for our NasoShield™ anthrax vaccine candidate, and manage enrollment of our ongoing Phase I trial of HepTcell for the treatment of Chronic Hepatitis B.”
“I am thrilled to join Altimmune at this juncture in the Company’s development. 2016 will be a pivotal year for Altimmune with a number of upcoming clinical milestones and data readouts. Altimmune’s products have already demonstrated their exciting potential and are well poised to move quickly toward Phase 3. The two unique technology platforms are incredibly complementary, giving us the flexibility to drive the optimal immune response in a wide array of disease indications,” said Dr. Tasker.
Dr. Tasker joins Altimmune from Genocea Biosceiences, where she was a Senior Director of Clinical Development and led the GEN-003 therapeutic vaccine program. Previously a career military officer, Dr. Tasker held senior leadership roles involving pandemic influenza and biodefense planning within the Department of Defense, in addition to patient care and clinical research activities. Following that, she guided infectious disease therapeutic area clinical development strategy at two leading global CROs, involving a wide variety of sponsors and indications, including two successful BARDA proposals for influenza vaccines and multiple pivotal phase 3 programs for antimicrobials that are currently on the market. Dr. Tasker received an A.B. in Biochemistry from Princeton University and an M.D. from Columbia University.
Mr. Egharevba has 12 years of clinical trial experience in a variety of disease indications including oncology, cardiovascular disease and rheumatology. He joins Altimmune from Takeda, and has held prior positions at Roche, Amgen, and Genmab. Mr. Egharevba received a B.S. in Biology from the University of North Texas and a Masters Degree in Clinical Research from Cardiff University.
About Altimmune
Altimmune is a clinical stage immunotherapeutic company focused on the development of products to stimulate robust and durable immune responses for the prevention and treatment of disease. The Company has two proprietary platform technologies, RespirVec and Densigen, each of which has been shown to activate the immune system in distinctly different ways than traditional vaccines. Using these technologies, Altimmune has developed three novel clinical stage product candidates that potentially represent an entirely new approach to harnessing the immune system.
The Company’s most advanced product candidate, NasoVAX, is a Phase 2-ready intranasally-delivered recombinant influenza vaccine offering broad and rapid protection with potential for significant advantages over traditional flu vaccines. The second most advanced product candidate, HepTcell, is currently being tested in a Phase 1 clinical study as an immunotherapy for patients chronically infected with hepatitis B and has the potential to provide a functional cure. With the support of the U.S. Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, or BARDA, the Company is developing a third product candidate, NasoShield, a first-in-class anthrax vaccine designed to provide rapid, stable protection after one intranasal administration. The Company intends to leverage the RespirVec and Densigen platforms to develop additional product candidates for a variety of indications.
CONTACT: Altimmune Contacts Bill Enright President and CEO Phone: 240-654-1450 Email: enright@altimmune.com Investor Relations Stephanie Carrington ICR, Inc. Phone: 646-277-1282 Email: Stephanie.Carrington@icrinc.com
