PARIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Regulatory News:
ABIVAX (Paris:ABVX) (Euronext Paris: FR0012333284 – ABVX), a publicly traded, clinical stage biotech company developing and commercializing anti-viral drugs and therapeutic vaccines, today announced the appointment of Dr. Jean-Marc Steens, M.D. as its Chief Medical Officer.
Dr. Steens joins ABIVAX with almost three decades of experience in the biopharmaceutical industry. During these years, he held critical leadership roles with a focus on viral diseases (especially HIV/AIDS, but also hepatitis B) in both global clinical development and medical affairs. Furthermore, he has lived and worked in Europe and in the Unites States, and has had roles whose scope also included developing markets.
Prof. Hartmut Ehrlich M.D., CEO of ABIVAX, stated: "I am delighted to welcome Jean Marc to ABIVAX's senior leadership team. His broad experience in the field of anti-viral drugs and vaccines, developed through decades of international leadership roles at GSK and ViiV, will be invaluable for the ongoing development of ABIVAX's first-in-class clinical-stage product candidates ABX464 (HIV/AIDS) and ABX 203 (chronic hepatitis B), and to our pipeline of pre-clinical anti-viral compounds."
Dr. Steens said, "I am looking forward to applying my experience and learnings to the development of ABIVAX's ground-breaking therapies, which I am confident will have a substantial effect on the lives of many patients worldwide currently suffering from chronic Hepatitis B and HIV."
Dr. Steens completed his medical education as well as a post-doctoral degree in Public Health at the Catholic University of Louvain in Belgium. He began his career at Sandoz in Belgium and subsequently joined Glaxo where he stayed for more than 20 years and carried extensive responsibilities for the global clinical development, medical affairs and access programs for novel therapies and vaccines for HIV and other infectious diseases.
In 2009, Dr. Steens was appointed to the post of Vice President and International Medical Director of ViiV Healthcare, with responsibility for establishing and managing medical departments across Eastern Europe, Asia and Latin America. In this capacity, he was ViiV Healthcare's appointed liaison with guideline bodies including the WHO and the Medical Research Council (UK).
Since 2013, Dr. Steens has consulted to various Biopharmaceutical companies, including Novartis. Also, Dr. Steens is a member of the HIV advisory boards and steering committees of several global and national healthcare organizations such as the WHO and the National Institutes of Health (US).
About ABIVAX (www.abivax.com)
ABIVAX is an advanced clinical development biotech company focused on becoming a global leader in the discovery, development and commercialization of anti-viral drugs and human therapies to treat some of the world's most life-threatening infectious diseases, including HIV/AIDS and chronic Hepatitis B.
ABIVAX has 2 compounds in clinical stage development: ABX464 a novel small molecule against HIV with a number of important potential competitive advantages, and ABX203, a therapeutic vaccine candidate that could be a cure for chronic Hepatitis B. The broader ABIVAX portfolio includes additional anti-viral compounds against e.g. Dengue, Chikungunya and Ebola that may enter the clinical stage in the coming 18 months.
ABX464 has been developed using ABIVAX' anti-viral platform that allows the Company to address a broad range of viral targets involved in the production and management of viral RNA within the host cell. ABIVAX also has access to a number of cutting edge technologies including complex molecular protein/RNA-pro interactions to discover and develop proprietary breakthrough therapies to help patients' clear important pathogenic viruses.
Headquartered in Paris, France, ABIVAX conducts its research and development in Évry (France) and Montpellier (France). In addition, ABIVAX benefits from long term partnerships with the Cuban Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (Havana, Cuba), The Finlay Institute (Havana, Cuba), the Molecular Genetics Institute of Montpellier (CNRS-Université de Montpellier, France), the Curie Institute (Paris, France), the Scripps Research Institute (La Jolla, CA, USA), the University of Chicago (Chicago, IL, USA), Brigham Young University (Provo, UT, USA), and the Institut Pasteur (Paris, France). ABIVAX intends to pursue further business development opportunities to access commercial products as part of its overall corporate strategy.
ABIVAX was founded by Dr. Philippe Pouletty, M.D., managing partner at Truffle Capital, the cornerstone investor in ABIVAX since its creation. The company is listed on the regulated market of Euronext Paris, compartment B (ISIN code: FR0012333284 – Ticker: ABVX). For more information, please visit www.abivax.com.
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