Burlington, Mass.--Feb. 4, 2010—Avaxia Biologics, Inc., a private biotech company developing oral antibody products for disease targets that can be reached through the mouth and the gastrointestinal tract, today announced the appointment of David Poorvin, Ph.D., as Chief Business Officer. In this position, Dr. Poorvin will be responsible for leading the Company’s business development activities.
“David brings more than 35 years of business development and drug development research in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry,” said Avaxia Chief Executive Officer Barbara Fox, Ph.D. “His successful record of alliance creation and new product development makes him uniquely qualified to help Avaxia build into the future.”
From 2004 to 2009, Dr. Poorvin served as an Executive-in-Residence at Oxford Bioscience Partners, a biotechnology venture capital firm. Prior to joining Oxford Bioscience Partners, Dr. Poorvin worked at Schering-Plough for 22 years, the last 10 as head of Business Development. Dr. Poorvin had also held positions of Director of Clinical Research at Schering-Plough and at Pfizer Pharmaceuticals. He was responsible for several NDA programs and product approvals at both companies, including such drugs as Procardia and Imdur. Poorvin started his career in the pharmaceutical industry at Lederle Laboratories, were he directed pre-clinical research in the cardiovascular area.
Dr. Poorvin received his B.A. degree from Hunter College of the City University of New York. He received his Ph.D. from Rutgers University where he subsequently was awarded a post-doctoral fellowship in cardiovascular research. Dr. Poorvin is a member of several professional organizations, including the Licensing Executive Society. Dr. Poorvin currently sits on the board of directors of several biotech companies.
About Avaxia Biologics, Inc.
Avaxia is developing oral antibody products for diseases and disease targets that can be reached through the mouth and the gastrointestinal tract. Avaxia’s products are bovine polyclonal antibodies, isolated from the early milk of immunized cows. Nature has designed these antibodies to be both stable to gastric digestion and safe for oral consumption. The company has built a proprietary technology platform on this natural source of antibodies, with unique advantages in product safety, cost and convenience. Just as importantly, the platform offers more rapid clinical development at a greatly reduced cost. Avaxia is using the platform technology to develop medications to treat serious diseases, many of them currently untreated by existing technologies.
SOURCE: Avaxia Biologics, Inc. Barbara S. Fox, CEO. 1-508-259-5929
