Anergis Appoints Dr. Vanya Beltrami As Director Product Development
EPALINGES, Switzerland, June 03, 2014 – Anergis, a company discovering and developing proprietary allergy vaccines, today announced that Vanya Beltrami, PhD, has joined the company as Director Product Development. Dr. Beltrami brings over 20 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry with Ares-Serono, Laboratoires Serono SA and Merck Serono SA, where he held several positions with direct product development responsibility (e.g. somatropin), acting as final dosage forms project director and manufacturing product director. Most recently, he was Global Product Team Leader at the Global Product Unit Endocrinology, where he substantially expanded his cross-functional pharmaceutical development experience. Dr. Beltrami has a long-standing track record in drug product and medical devices development as well as drug launches in multiple countries. His expertise also includes the life cycle management of a brand product generating € 250 M sales per year. Vanya Beltrami was trained as a pharmacist and holds a PhD in Formulation from the University of Geneva.
"We are delighted that Dr. Beltrami has chosen to join our management team as Director Product Development," said Vincent Charlon, CEO of Anergis.
"His strong track record and expertise in product development will be of tremendous value to our advanced clinical-stage allergy vaccine pipeline. Most importantly, Mr. Beltrami brings a global approach to product development and is well versed in addressing European and North American regulatory standards."
About Anergis
Anergis SA is a Swiss-based biopharmaceutical company specializing in the discovery and development of novel, proprietary allergy vaccines that target commercially attractive indications. Anergis´ vaccines are based on its IP-protected Contiguous Overlapping Peptide (COP) technology. Allergies are the most prevalent and fastest growing chronic conditions in the industrialized world affecting over 500 million people. Anergis’ lead-product AllerT, a vaccine to treat birch pollen allergies, is due to enter Phase III clinical development. Two additional vaccine candidates against ragweed pollen allergies (AllerR) and house dust mite allergies (AllerDM) are in preclinical development. Anergis has raised over CHF 30 million from Renaissance PME/Vinci Capital, Sunstone Capital, BioMedInvest and other investors, including Esperante Ventures and Initiative Capital Romandie/Defi Gestion.
About Anergis´ Contiguous Overlapping Peptides (COP) Technology
The only curative therapy of allergies available today, known as “desensitization” or “Conventional Allergy Immunotherapy” (AIT), is the process of inducing tolerance to the allergen. It requires 3-5 years of treatment and exposes patients to the risk of serious side effects – in particular immediate (<30 min) anaphylactic reactions – which can be life-threatening. With its ultra-fast desensitization, Anergis is shaping the future of allergy treatment. Anergis’ vaccines are based on COPs which reproduce the complete amino acid sequence of the allergen in separate synthetic long peptides. COP allergy vaccines are pharmaceutical quality products that provide complete allergen sequencing of all T cell epitopes, but do not cross-react with IgE, the antibody class responsible for eliciting allergic hypersensitivity. Therefore, COPs can be administered safely independent of MHC restriction and at high doses to induce tolerance to the allergen after only a few injections. This enables desensitization in 2 months as opposed to 3 years. Studies of COPs targeting bee venom and birch pollen allergies in both animals and humans have demonstrated excellent safety (i.e. no immediate allergic reaction) and immunogenicity (production of specific antibodies and cytokines against the original allergen and establishment of a long-term immune memory).
Contact: Anergis SA CH-1066 Epalinges Vincent Charlon, CEO info(at)anergis.ch Media Inquiries: akampion Dr. Ludger Wess, Ines-Regina Buth Managing Partners Tel. +49 40 88165964 or +49 30 2363 2768 info(at)akampion.com
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