CureVac Appoints Leading Experts to its Scientific Advisory Board

TÜBINGEN, Germany, March 30, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- CureVac, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company pioneering the field of mRNA-based technology, today announced the expansion of its external Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) to guide the company in this important period of extensive clinical development and in its portfolio prioritization process. The SAB now consists of 16 leading scientists across CureVac's key therapeutic categories, which include cancer immunotherapy, prophylactic vaccines and protein replacement therapy. The SAB is chaired by Ralf Clemens, MD, who has a long-standing track record of vaccine development at major multinational companies.  

Ingmar Hoerr, PhD, co-founder and CEO of CureVac, said, "We are delighted to welcome these esteemed experts to CureVac's Scientific Advisory Board during this time of significant growth and progress for CureVac. We are entering into a transformative chapter in CureVac's history, with five human trials ongoing and further significant clinical advances expected in 2016. I am confident that the experts on the board will have an enormous impact on our efforts as we continue to advance our mRNA programs from clinical development to market access."

Ralf Clemens, MD, chairman of the SAB, commented, "CureVac's mRNA-based technology has the potential to be truly disruptive in the way we treat cancer and protect against infectious diseases; rapid progression into later stage clinical development is critical. The thought leaders CureVac invited to its SAB bring together a broad variety of scientific and public health expertise paired with entrepreneurial curiosity that is invaluable. I am honored to work alongside this group of experts for the common goal of bringing a first mRNA breakthrough compound to market."

CureVac's Scientific Advisory Board includes the following experts across the company's core therapeutic categories:

• Prof. Carol J. Baker, MD, Professor of Pediatrics, Molecular Virology & Microbiology, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston; past-chair of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), president of the Infectious Diseases Society of America and the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases
• Prof. Nina Bhardwaj, MD, Hematology and Medical Oncology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York City; elected member of the American Society of Clinical Investigation and the American Association of Physicians; senior editor of the AACR Cancer Immunology Research journal
• Ralf Clemens, MD, Chair of the SAB, former Vice President/ Senior Vice President GSK Biologicals, Novartis Vaccines and Takeda Vaccines; advisor to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and to the Africa Research Excellence Fund (AREF); member of CureVac's Supervisory Board
• Michel De Wilde, PhD, member of the Board of Directors of the Infectious Disease Research Institute (IDRI) and of VBI; former Senior Vice President R&D at Sanofi Pasteur and Vice President Research GSK Biologicals
• Prof. Dirk Jäger, MD, Director of Medical Oncology at the University Hospital of Heidelberg, Germany; leader of the research group "Applied Tumor Immunity" at the German Cancer Research Center
• Prof. Karim Fizazi, MD, Head of the Department of Cancer Medicine at the Institut Gustave Roussy, Villejuif, France; President of the French Study Group of Carcinomas of Unknown Primary and associate editor of the European Journal of Cancer
• Christopher Karp, MD, Director of Global Health Discovery & Translational Sciences at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
• Prof. Michael P. Manns, MD, Director of the Department of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Endocrinology at Hannover Medical School, Germany
• Prof. Stanley Plotkin, MD, Emeritus Professor of the Wistar Institute and the University of Pennsylvania, and Adjunct Professor of the Johns Hopkins University; editor of the standard textbook "Vaccines"
• Jean-Paul Prieels, PhD, Member of the Board of various Biotech companies including DNAlytics and Vaximm; former Senior Vice President R&D at GSK Biologicals
• Prof. Hans-Georg Rammensee, PhD, Head of the Department of Immunology at the University of Tübingen, Germany
• George R. Siber, MD, Chief Scientific Officer, ClearPath Vaccines Company and former Executive Vice President of Wyeth Pharma, CSO of Wyeth Vaccines and Director of the Massachusetts Biologic Laboratories
• Prof. Daniel Speiser, MD, head of clinical tumor biology and immunotherapy group, Department of Oncology and Ludwig Cancer Research Center, University of Lausanne, Switzerland
• Prof. Xiao-Ning Xu, MD, PhD, Chair in Human Immunology at the Imperial College London; previously Head of Novartis Vaccines Research China
• Prof. Fred Zepp, MD, Medical Director and Chairman of the Department of Pediatrics, University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz, Germany; past president of the German Society of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine; member of the STIKO at the Robert Koch Institute
• Gerd Zettlmeissl, PhD, Chairman Hilleman Laboratories, Board of Directors of Aeras and board member of various Biotech companies; former Managing Director of Chiron Behring and Chief Executive Officer of Intercell

About CureVac AG

Founded in 2000 as a spin-off from the University of Tϋbingen in Germany, CureVac is a technology leader in the development of drugs that are based on messenger RNA (mRNA). The company has more than 15 years of expertise in handling and optimizing this versatile molecule for medical purposes, and has the most advanced product pipeline in the industry.

The basic principle of CureVac's proprietary technology is the use of mRNA as a data carrier to instruct the human body to produce its own proteins capable of fighting a wide range of diseases.

To date, CureVac has initiated eight clinical trials with about 450 patients and healthy volunteers in eleven countries.

Since its inception, CureVac has received approximately $330 million (€300 million) in equity investments. CureVac has entered into various collaborations with multinational corporations and organizations, including agreements with Boehringer Ingelheim, Sanofi Pasteur, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and IAVI.

In 2006, CureVac successfully established the first GMP facility worldwide for the manufacturing of mRNA. In 2016, CureVac will begin construction of an industrial scale production facility.

For more information, please visit www.curevac.com.

Media Contacts

Verena Lauterbach, Senior Manager Communications
CureVac AG, Tübingen, Germany
T: +49 (0) 7071 9883 1756
[email protected]

Andrew Mielach, Vice President 
Tiberend Strategic Advisors, New York
T: +1 212 375 2694
[email protected]

Rachel Hunter, Account Director
Brunswick Group, New York 
T: +1 (0) 212 333 3810
[email protected]

SOURCE CureVac

Related Links

http://www.curevac.com