WATERTOWN, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Selecta Biosciences, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company developing synthetic nanoparticle vaccines and immunotherapies, announced today that Werner Cautreels, Ph.D. has been appointed as President and Chief Executive Officer. He has also been appointed to the company’s Board of Directors. Dr. Cautreels brings more than 25 years of experience as a pharmaceutical executive and R&D leader, including his most recent positions as CEO and Global Head of R&D of Solvay Pharmaceuticals until its acquisition by Abbott Laboratories reported for $ 6.6B in February 2010.
“We are extremely pleased that Werner, who is a distinguished and proven leader in the pharmaceutical industry, has become Selecta’s CEO and was attracted to the vast potential of Selecta’s nanotechnology to develop new classes of synthetic nanoparticle vaccines and immunotherapies,” said George Siber, Member of the Board of Selecta and former CSO of Wyeth Vaccines. “Werner’s leadership and success in business strategy and drug development will be a great asset as Selecta navigates the broad set of opportunities with Selecta’s proprietary tSVP technology.”
“I am excited to take on the opportunity to develop this unique technology and grow a company with such broad potential in the pharmaceutical industry,” said Werner Cautreels, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of Selecta Biosciences. “I envision Selecta’s technology to unlock novel treatment approaches in high unmet medical need areas beginning with our synthetic vaccine product candidates using the tSVP nanoparticle technology and potentially expanding into other immunotherapies developed as proprietary compounds and in collaboration with partners.”
Prior to joining Selecta, Dr. Cautreels was CEO of Solvay Pharmaceuticals, the pharmaceuticals division of the Solvay Group (Brussels, Belgium), and he successfully led the acquisition of Solvay Pharmaceuticals by Abbott Laboratories. Before becoming the CEO of Solvay Pharmaceuticals, he had the role of Global Head of R&D for Solvay. Prior to joining Solvay, he held management positions at Sanofi, Sterling-Winthrop and Nycomed-Amersham leading R&D activities in Europe and in the United States. Dr. Cautreels has served as a director of several biotechnology companies including Innogenetics NV (from 1999-2008), Arqule Inc. (from 1999-2006), and Galapagos NV (2009-present). He has a doctorate in chemistry from the University of Antwerp, Belgium, and he received his management education from the Harvard Business School.
About Selecta Biosciences
Selecta Biosciences, Inc. is a biopharmaceutical company developing first-in-class synthetic nanoparticle vaccines and immunotherapies, with the first applications focused on nanoparticle vaccines using its proprietary targeted Synthetic Vaccine Particle (tSVP™) technology. The tSVP platform enables full-integration of the key vaccine components, antigens and adjuvants, for highly-effective targeting to immune cells to produce an optimal immune response. The tSVP vaccines mimic the structure of natural pathogens with regards to size, shape and the sequence of immunological information that it delivers specifically to immune cells, thus harnessing the body’s defense system to produce a robust immune response. The unique attributes of full-integration, targeting and natural structure conferred by the tSVP platform create synthetic nanoparticle vaccines that are engineered for unprecedented safety and efficacy. This novel approach enables expanded opportunities for tSVP vaccines, and the company is pursuing opportunities across a range of high unmet medical need applications, including infectious, metabolic, CNS and inflammatory diseases.
Selecta was founded in 2008 by three academic pioneers in the fields of nanotechnology and immunology: Professor Robert Langer (MIT), and Professors Omid Farokhzad and Ulrich von Andrian (Harvard Medical School). Selecta is backed by leading venture investors including, Polaris Venture Partners, Flagship Ventures, NanoDimension, OrbiMed Advisors and Leukon Investments. For more information please visit the company website at www.selectabio.com.
