CureVac Appoints Daniel Menichella As CEO Of CureVac Inc., The Company's U.S. Subsidiary
TÜBINGEN, Germany, May 2, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- CureVac AG, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company pioneering the field of mRNA-based therapies, today announced the appointment of Daniel Menichella as CEO of CureVac Inc., its Boston based U.S. subsidiary. Mr. Menichella, an experienced executive in the biotech-industry, will develop CureVac's US organization with a clear focus on business and corporate development activities around CureVac's versatile mRNA technology platform.
Established in 2015, CureVac Inc. provides a US base of operations for CureVac AG to capitalize on its numerous research and business initiatives as the Company advances its pipeline of mRNA therapeutics targeting oncology and infectious diseases, as well as molecular therapies designed to trigger the body's own production of therapeutic proteins. In this regard, Mr. Menichella and his team will be responsible for maximizing the value of these technologies by enabling CureVac to more directly engage pharmaceutical communities, particularly those in the US.
"As CEO of CureVac Inc., my goal will be to expand CureVac's US business entity and to focus the corporate development efforts to grow our business globally," said Mr. Menichella. "CureVac has established the most diverse and advanced development platform in the mRNA industry. I am convinced that the company is in the best position to bring the first mRNA product to the market. There have been many exciting developments at CureVac and I look forward to playing an instrumental role in advancing the company further."
Ingmar Hoerr, Ph.D., co-founder and CEO of CureVac AG, stated, "It is a great pleasure to welcome Dan on board. We look forward to benefiting from his vast expertise as we expand our operations in the US and strengthen our business development efforts."
Mr. Menichella has held a variety of corporate and business development roles for a number of leading companies during his career, including Bamboo Therapeutics, Applied Genetic Technologies Corp., Zyngenia Inc., Talecris Biotherapeutics Holdings Corp. and Merck KGaA. In these roles, Mr. Menichella led major M&A and licensing deals, corporate strategy and commercialization activities.
About CureVac AG
Founded in 2000 as a spin-off from the University of Tbingen in Germany, CureVac is a technology leader in the development of drugs that are based on the molecule Messenger RNA (mRNA). The fully integrated biopharmaceutical Company has more than 17 years of expertise in handling and optimizing this versatile molecule for medical purposes and has the most advanced product pipeline and IP portfolio 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. The company applies this for the development of cancer therapies, prophylactic vaccines and molecular therapies.
Since its inception, strongly backed by SAP founder Dietmar Hopp's dievini CureVac has received approximately $370 million (355 million) in equity investments including an investment of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation of $ 52million in 2015. 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 started the establishment of an industrial scale production.
For more information, please visit www.curevac.com.
Media Contacts
Verena Lauterbach, Senior Manager Communications
CureVac AG, Tübingen, Germany
T: +49 (0) 7071 9883 175
communications@curevac.com
Andrew Mielach, Vice President
Tiberend Strategic Advisors, New York
T: +1 212 375 2694
amielach@tiberend.com
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SOURCE CureVac AG
