NEOVACS REALIGNS SCIENTIFIC ADVISORY BOARD
TO SUPPORT SHIFT IN THERAPEUTIC FOCUS
SAB chairman Jacques Banchereau, PharmD, Ph.D. to join Neovacs Board of Directors
Paris, February 3, 2015 - NEOVACS (Alternext Paris : ALNEV), a leader in active immunotherapies for the treatment of autoimmune diseases, today announced that new members have joined the Company's Scientific Advisory Board (SAB). Current SAB chairman, Prof. Jacques Banchereau, PharmD, Ph.D. will also join Neovacs' Board of Directors.
Neovacs formed a scientific committee comprised of leaders in immune therapy, chronic inflammatory and autoimmune diseases in October 2014 with the goal of strengthening the Company's scientific base and increasing international visibility of its innovative technology in the treatment of autoimmune diseases.
Recent enhancements to Neovacs' SAB reflect the change in the Company's pipeline, with a greater emphasis on pathologies targeted by IFNalpha-Kinoid and VEGFalpha-Kinoid. Professor Banchereau will remain SAB chairman.
"The new members of the Scientific Advisory Board bring high-level experience in onco-immunology, neuro-immunology and ophthalmology to Neovacs. We are grateful for their participation and look forward to their expert analysis and guidance regarding our clinical and preclinical portfolio," said Miguel Sieler, Chief Executive Officer of Neovacs. "We are also very proud to announce that Professor Banchereau has agreed to join our Board of Directors. As a Director, Jacques will play an even greater role in the strategic direction of the Company, including the development of Neovacs' Kinoid technology."
SAB members include:
Prof. Jacques Banchereau, PharmD, Ph.D.(Chairman)
Professor and Director of Immunological Sciences
Jackson Laboratory for Genomic Medicine, Famington, Conn.
Prof. Betty Diamond, M.D.
Investigator & Head of Center for Autoimmune and Musculoskeletal Diseases, The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research; Professor of Molecular Biology and Medicine, Hofstra North Shore-LIJ School of Medicine, Manhasset, N.Y.
Prof. Napoleone Ferrara, M.D.
Professor of Ophthalmology and Pathology Univeristy of California at San Diego - La Jolla, Calif.
Prof. Steve A Greenberg, M.D.
Department of Neurology, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Children's Hospital Informatics Program, Harvard Medical School and Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology, Boston
Prof. Bernard Lauwerys, M.D., Ph.D.
Professor of Rheumatology
Cliniques Universitaires Saint Luc & Université Catholique de Louvain, Brussels, Belgium
Prof. Miriam Merad, M.D., Ph.D.
Professor of Oncological Sciences and Medicine
Tisch Cancer Institute at The Mount Sinai Health System, New York, N.Y.
Prof. Virginia Pascual, M.D., Ph.D.
Director, Center for Inflammation and Autoimmune Diseases
Baylor Institute for Immunology Research, Dallas, Texas
Laurence Zitvogel, M.D.
Research Director at INSERM U1015, Gustave Roussy Cancer Center, Villejuif, France
The first meeting of the new SAB will be held in New York City on Feb. 12, 2015. Members will discuss the results of Neovacs' phase IIb study of TNF-Kinoid in Rheumatoid Arthritis and a path forward for this research program. Members will also finalize the development plan for Neovacs' IFNalpha-Kinoid therapeutic, including the upcoming clinical trials in lupus and potentially other indications.
The SAB will meet again in mid-2015 to discuss a development plan for VEGF-Kinoid, Neovacs' preclinical therapeutic candidate targeting Age-related Macular Degeneration and solid tumors.
About Neovacs
Created in 1993, Neovacs is today a leading biotechnology company focused on an active immunotherapy technology platform (Kinoids) with applications in autoimmune and/or inflammatory diseases. On the basis of the company's proprietary technology for inducing a polyclonal immune response (covered by five patent families that potentially run until 2032) Neovacs is focusing its clinical development efforts on IFNalpha-Kinoid, an immunotherapy being developed for the indication of lupus. Neovacs is also conducting preclinical development works on other therapeutic vaccines in the fields of auto-immune diseases, oncology and allergies. The goal of the Kinoid approach is to enable patients to have access to safe treatments with efficacy that is sustained in these life-long diseases.
For more information on Neovacs, visit www.neovacs.fr
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