Former CEO of sanofi pasteur brings 30 years of pharmaceutical and vaccine leadership to NJ biotech firm
CRANBURY, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--VaxInnate Corporation today announced that Wayne Pisano has joined the Company as President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO), and become a member of the Board. Pisano was formerly the President and CEO of sanofi pasteur, a division of sanofi-aventis Group and the world’s largest vaccine business.
“I’m very excited to join VaxInnate, a company that’s poised to become a significant player in the flu vaccine arena, thanks to its game-changing vaccine technology,” Pisano said. “VaxInnate is very well positioned, given its contract with the U.S. government to develop flu vaccines. In addition, VaxInnate’s dengue vaccine is showing great promise in preclinical studies and is expected to enter Phase I trials next year.”
“Throughout his 30-year career, Wayne has demonstrated his development and commercialization skills at both vaccine and pharmaceutical companies,” said Philippe Chambon, MD, PhD, a VaxInnate Board member and Managing Director of New Leaf Venture Partners. “Wayne has a sincere commitment to vaccines and their unquestionable value in preventing disease. We’re delighted to welcome Wayne to VaxInnate and to our Board, and look forward to having him lead the Company at this critical stage in its development.”
Pisano began his career with sanofi, one of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies, in 1997. He held a series of progressively more senior positions at sanofi pasteur over the next two decades, culminating in his appointment as division president and CEO in 2007. He retired from that role in 2011.
During his tenure at sanofi, Pisano was recognized as a global leader in vaccine development, production and sales. Under his leadership, more than one billion doses of sanofi pasteur’s lifesaving vaccines were administered annually to 500 million people around the world, representing more than 25% of the world’s vaccine market. In addition to his responsibilities at sanofi, Pisano served on the supervisory board of Sanofi Pasteur MSD, a 50-50 joint venture with Merck & Co., Inc. that markets and distributes vaccines in Europe.
Pisano also spent a significant portion of his career in the pharmaceutical division of Novartis (Sandoz). He holds a bachelor’s degree in biology from St. John Fisher College, Rochester, New York, and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Dayton, Ohio. He is a resident of Asbury, NJ.
Pisano replaces Thomas Hofstaetter, PhD, who retired at the end of 2011 after two years as president and CEO of VaxInnate and a member of the Board.
About VaxInnate
VaxInnate is a privately-held biotechnology company in Cranbury, NJ that is pioneering breakthrough technology for use in developing novel and proprietary vaccines. VaxInnate’s vaccines focus on infectious diseases, including seasonal and pandemic flu, dengue, malaria, and clostridium difficile. VaxInnate’s technology has the potential to dramatically improve the potency, manufacturing capacity and cost-effectiveness of vaccines.
In 2011, a contract worth up to $196 million over five years was awarded to VaxInnate by the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), to fund the development of seasonal and pandemic flu vaccines using recombinant technology.
VaxInnate has already generated positive Phase I and Phase II clinical data for its flu vaccines. Prototype seasonal and pandemic flu vaccines were also demonstrated to have superior potency in elderly subjects. For more information about VaxInnate, please visit http://www.vaxinnate.com.
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Contacts
VaxInnate Corporation
Janet Skidmore, 215-658-4915
Mobile: 215-429-2917
skidmorecomm@earthlink.net
