Valneva Announces Expansion of its Management
Board - Strengthening Senior Management for Future
Growth
- Appointment of David Lawrence as Chief Financial Officer
(CFO)
- Appointment of Wolfgang Bender, MD/PhD as Chief Medical
Officer (CMO)
Lyon (France), August 1, 2017 - Valneva SE
("Valneva" or "the Company"), a fully integrated commercial stage
biotech company focused on developing innovative, lifesaving
vaccines, is pleased to announce the expansion of its Management
Board with two new appointments: David Lawrence as Chief Financial
Officer (CFO) and Wolfgang Bender, MD, PhD as Chief Medical Officer
(CMO). Mr. Lawrence's and Dr. Bender's appointments by the
Company's Supervisory Board will become effective on August 7th and
September 1st respectively.
David Lawrence, a British national, brings over
25 years of experience in the pharmaceutical, biotech and vaccine
industries, with a proven international track record in mid-sized
to large companies and small biotech start-ups. His tested
leadership experience as a CFO in the Lifesciences sector spans
across finance and accounting, mergers and acquisitions, fund
raising and investor relations. David served as CFO in a
dual-listed (LSE and NASDAQ) vaccine biotech company (Acambis plc,
acquired by sanofi in 2008) and was Vice President of Finance &
Business Development for Chiron Vaccines, a division of Chiron
Corporation which was acquired by Novartis in 2005. Prior to these
roles, he held senior finance positions at GlaxoSmithKline
including Vice President of Financial Management in Research and
Development. In addition, David also brings recent start-up CEO
experience and Non-Executive Director / Board experience.
Dr Wolfgang Bender, MD, PhD, a German national,
is a global life sciences leader with over 30 years of extensive
experience in scientific-medical affairs, R&D and general
management of vaccines and pharmaceuticals. He brings a broad
international profile with an exceptional academic background
(MD/PhD, MPH, MHA, DTM&P). Wolfgang has special competencies in
strategy, operational execution and change management, with a
record of success working in leadership roles for leading global
life sciences companies. He held a variety of senior and
international positions in vaccine development and medical affairs,
working for leading companies in the field, including Novartis
Vaccines and Takeda Vaccines. Prior positions included country
manager, corporate strategy and various clinical research roles at
major pharmaceutical companies such as Pfizer and the Hoechst
Group. In the last twelve months, Dr. Bender has provided
consulting services to Valneva.
Valneva's Supervisory Board has also confirmed
the appointment of the Company's General Counsel, Frederic Jacotot,
to the Management Board. Frederic joined the Board in April
following the departure of the Company's former CFO Reinhard
Kandera.
Frederic Jacotot, a former Division Counsel at
Abbott with over 25 years' experience as a legal expert in the
pharmaceutical industry, has been a Vice President and member of
Valneva's Executive Committee since 2013.
With these two additional appointments,
Valneva's Management Board now consists of Thomas Lingelbach,
President & Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Franck Grimaud,
President & Chief Business Officer (CBO), David Lawrence, Chief
Financial Officer (CFO), Wolfgang Bender, Chief Medical Officer
(CMO) and Frederic Jacotot, General Counsel and Corporate
Secretary.
"We are pleased that we have been able to
strengthen the Management Board with the addition of well
recognized leaders in their field. We are convinced that we have an
excellent, experienced and international Management team to support
the Company's further development into its next growth phase
according to our strategic vision", commented Frederic Grimaud,
Chairman of the Supervisory Board and Thomas
Lingelbach, CEO.
Valneva's strategy is based on its vision to
grow into a major and self-sustainable vaccine company by
complementing organic growth with opportunistic M&A.
In order to become a sizable vaccine player,
allowing Valneva to best leverage its current and future commercial
and industrial infrastructures, the Company aims to grow its
revenues to approximately €250 million in the mid-term.
By investing approximately 15 to 20% of
Valneva's revenues in Research & Development (R&D)
annually, the Company is committed to discover, develop and deliver
vaccine candidates in growing segments with strong medical need,
and present innovative solutions to the benefit of individuals and
society, creating upside for its shareholders.
About Valneva SE
Valneva is a fully integrated, commercial stage
biotech company focused on developing innovative lifesaving
vaccines.
The Company seeks financial returns through
focused R&D investments in promising product candidates and
growing financial contributions from commercial products, striving
towards financial self-sustainability.
Valneva's portfolio includes two commercial
vaccines for travelers: IXIARO®/JESPECT® indicated for the
prevention of Japanese encephalitis and DUKORAL® indicated for the
prevention of cholera and, in some countries, prevention of
diarrhea caused by ETEC. The Company has proprietary vaccines in
development including candidates against Clostridium difficile and
Lyme Borreliosis. A variety of partnerships with leading
pharmaceutical companies complement the Company's value proposition
and include vaccines being developed using Valneva's innovative and
validated technology platforms (EB66® vaccine production cell line,
IC31® adjuvant).
Valneva shares are tradable on Euronext-Paris,
the Vienna stock exchange and Deutsche Börse's electronic platform
Xetra®. The Company has operations in France, Austria, Great
Britain, Sweden, Canada and the US with over 400 employees. More
information is available at www.valneva.com.
Contacts Valneva SE Laetitia Bachelot Fontaine Head
of Investor Relations & Corporate Communications T +33 (0)2
2807 1419 M +33 (0)6 4516 7099 investors@valneva.com |
Nina Waibel
Corporate Communications Specialist T +43 1206 201 149 M +43
6768 455 6719 Communications@valneva.com |
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains certain
forward-looking statements relating to the business of Valneva,
including with respect to the progress, timing and completion of
research, development and clinical trials for product candidates,
the ability to manufacture, market, commercialize and achieve
market acceptance for product candidates, the ability to protect
intellectual property and operate the business without infringing
on the intellectual property rights of others, estimates for future
performance and estimates regarding anticipated operating losses,
future revenues, capital requirements and needs for additional
financing. In addition, even if the actual results or development
of Valneva are consistent with the forward-looking statements
contained in this press release, those results or developments of
Valneva may not be indicative of the future. In some cases, you can
identify forward-looking statements by words such as "could,"
"should," "may," "expects," "anticipates," "believes," "intends,"
"estimates," "aims," "targets," or similar words. These
forward-looking statements are based largely on the current
expectations of Valneva as of the date of this press release and
are subject to a number of known and unknown risks and
uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results,
performance or achievements to be materially different from any
future results, performance or achievement expressed or implied by
these forward-looking statements. In particular, the expectations
of Valneva could be affected by, among other things, uncertainties
involved in the development and manufacture of vaccines, unexpected
clinical trial results, unexpected regulatory actions or delays,
competition in general, currency fluctuations, the impact of the
global and European credit crisis, and the ability to obtain or
maintain patent or other proprietary intellectual property
protection. In light of these risks and uncertainties, there can be
no assurance that the forward-looking statements made in this press
release will in fact be realized. Valneva is providing the
information in these materials as of the date of this press
release, and disclaims any intention or obligation to publicly
update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a
result of new information, future events, or otherwise.
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