GenVec Inc. Elects Adel A.F. Mahmoud and Edward M. Connor, Jr. to Board of Directors

GAITHERSBURG, Md., June 22, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- GenVec, Inc. (Nasdaq: GNVC) announced that Adel A.F. Mahmoud, M.D., Ph.D. and Edward M. Connor, Jr., M.D. were elected to the Company’s Board of Directors at its annual meeting of stockholders held on June 15, 2011.

“Drs. Mahmoud and Connor bring a wealth of experience, especially in infectious disease and vaccine development, to GenVec. As we expand the breadth and scope of our vaccine programs there is no substitute for the knowledge that comes from the successful introduction of new products into the marketplace,” said Dr. Paul Fischer, GenVec’s President and Chief Executive Officer.

Adel A.F. Mahmoud, M.D., Ph.D., 69, is a Professor at Princeton University in the Department of Molecular Biology and the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs a position he has held since 2007. In 2006, he retired as the Chief Medical Advisor, Vaccines and Infectious Diseases and a member of the Management Committee of Merck & Co., Inc., a pharmaceutical company, following a six year tenure as President of Merck Vaccines. During that period, Dr. Mahmoud led the effort to launch four new vaccines against rotavirus, human papillomavirus, shingles and a combination of Measles, Mumps, Rubella and Varicella. Dr. Mahmoud currently serves as a director of Becton, Dickinson and Company and Sanaria, Inc. He also serves on numerous scientific advisory boards and is the chairman of the National Institutes of Health’s Blue Ribbon Panel to Advise on the Risk Assessment of the National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratories at Boston University Medical Center and the National Academy of Sciences’ Committee on the Prevention of Proliferation of Biological Weapons.

Edward M. Connor, Jr., M.D., 59, is the Director, Office of Innovation Development and Investigational Therapeutics at Children’s National Medical Center and a Professor of Pediatrics, Microbiology, Immunology and Tropical Medicine at George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences, positions he has held since 2008. From 2004 to 2008, Dr. Connor was the Chief Medical Officer and Executive Vice President of MedImmune, Inc., where he had previously served as a Senior Vice President, Clinical Development from 2000 to 2004, Vice President, Clinical Development from 1995 to 2000, and Director, Clinical Studies from 1994 to 1995. He currently serves as the Chief Medical Officer for 3-V Biosciences, a biopharmaceutical company for the treatment of infectious diseases, a position he has held since 2010. Dr. Connor has also served on numerous advisory boards and is the Children’s National Representative on the VP-Pharma Board of Directors.

At the annual meeting held on June 15, 2011, stockholders also re-elected two incumbent directors, Kevin M. Rooney and Marc R. Schneebaum, to continue to serve on the Board. In April 2011, the Board voted to increase its size by one member. Leaving the Board is Joshua Ruch who did not stand for re-election. The Board now has 8 members.

About GenVec

GenVec is a biopharmaceutical company using differentiated, proprietary technologies to create superior therapeutics and vaccines. A key component of our strategy is to develop and commercialize our product candidates through collaborations. GenVec is working with leading companies and organizations such as Novartis, Merial, and the U.S. Government to support a portfolio of product programs that address the prevention and treatment of a number of significant human and animal health concerns. GenVec’s development programs address therapeutic areas such as hearing loss, balance disorders, and cancer; as well as vaccines against infectious diseases including respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2), dengue fever, influenza, malaria, and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). In the area of animal health we are developing vaccines against foot-and-mouth disease (FMD). Additional information about GenVec is available at www.genvec.com and in the Company’s various filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Statements herein relating to future financial or business performance, conditions or strategies and other financial and business matters, including expectations regarding funding, manufacturing, the development of products, and the success of the collaboration with Novartis, are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act. GenVec cautions that these forward-looking statements are subject to numerous assumptions, risks and uncertainties, which change over time. Factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from the results discussed in the forward-looking statements or historical experience include risks and uncertainties, including the failure by GenVec to secure and maintain relationships with collaborators; risks relating to the early stage of GenVec’s product candidates under development; uncertainties relating to clinical trials; risks relating to the commercialization, if any, of GenVec’s proposed product candidates; uncertainties related to the outcome and process of GenVec’s previously announced strategic review, dependence on the efforts of third parties; dependence on intellectual property; and risks that we may lack the financial resources and access to capital to fund our operations. Further information on the factors and risks that could affect GenVec’s business, financial conditions and results of operations, are contained in GenVec’s filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which are available at www.sec.gov. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this press release, and GenVec assumes no duty to update forward-looking statements.

SOURCE GenVec, Inc.