Specialty Vaccine Company PaxVax Appoints Jim Connolly to Board of Directors

Specialty Vaccine Company PaxVax Appoints Jim Connolly to Board of Directors

Industry Veteran Joins Company as it Readies for the Anticipated Commercial Launch of its Cholera Vaccine for Travelers

REDWOOD CITY, Calif., Apr 29, 2014 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- PaxVax Inc., a specialty vaccine company focused on travelers and biodefense markets with a social mission to ensure global access to its vaccines, today announced the appointment of Jim Connolly to its Board of Directors. Connolly joins current Board members Rennie Coit, M.D., and Rich Tong from Ignition Capital; retired Major General Philip K. Russell, M.D.; Howie Rosen; and PaxVax Chief Executive Officer Kenneth Kelley.
 
"Jim is a highly respected and successful biopharmaceutical business expert with nearly three decades of commercial experience spanning continents and virtually every corporate function. We are pleased to have him on the PaxVax team," said Kelley. "Jim's counsel will be invaluable as we prepare for global regulatory approval and commercialization of our cholera vaccine candidate, PXVX0200 and acquire complementary travelers vaccine assets."
 
Mr. Connolly currently serves on the Board of Directors of Aeras and Vaxess Technologies, and is an advisor to the Crossover Healthcare Fund. Prior, he was President and Chief Executive Officer of Aeras, a non-profit biotech company developing vaccines for tuberculosis and other neglected diseases. Before that he spent more than 23 years at Wyeth (now part of Pfizer) where he served in a series of senior roles including Executive Vice President and General Manager of Wyeth Vaccines and President of Wyeth Canada. Mr. Connolly holds a B.S. in Business Administration from Washington University.
 
PaxVax has created a portfolio of clinical-stage products, including its lead product PXVX0200, an oral, single-dose, attenuated cholera vaccine currently in Phase 3 clinical trials. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has granted PXVX0200 Fast Track designation in response to the lack of an available U.S. vaccine against cholera. PaxVax's clinical pipeline also consists of a pandemic oral vectored H5N1 influenza vaccine, which recently concluded a successful Phase 1 clinical trial, as well as oral vectored vaccines for HIV and anthrax, both of which are currently in Phase 1 clinical trials in collaboration with the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH). The company also has a pipeline of early-stage travelers' vaccine candidates for dengue, malaria and rabies.
 
"PaxVax is poised to become a global leader in the specialty vaccines industry and I am looking forward to working with them at this pivotal stage of growth," said Connolly. "The company's candidate vaccine for cholera addresses an overlooked market and has the potential to provide protection to an estimated 10 million people a year who travel from developed to developing countries where cholera is endemic."
 
PaxVax has raised nearly $75 million from investors including Ignition Partners and Blue Haven Initiative. The company is also supported by grants, contracts, and awards from the NIH through the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), its Division of Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (DAIDS), and its Division of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (DMID), as well as the Wellcome Trust and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
 
About PaxVax
 
PaxVax is a privately held specialty vaccine company founded in 2007. PaxVax is focused on travelers' vaccines with an emerging pipeline in biodefense coupled with a social mission to ensure global access to its vaccines. PaxVax's clinical-stage product portfolio includes an oral, single-dose cholera vaccine in Phase 3 clinical trials, a pandemic H5N1 influenza vaccine that recently concluded a successful Phase 1 clinical trial, and two anthrax vaccines. The company's proprietary adenoviral-based technology platform enables the rapid development of oral vaccines that can target any viral or bacterial protein antigen. PaxVax's vaccine candidates are designed to enhance the desired immune response and offer an easier way to manufacture, store, distribute, administer, and deliver vaccines across the globe compared to conventional injectable vaccines. PaxVax is headquartered in Redwood City, California, has research and development laboratories and state-licensed Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) production facilities in San Diego, California.
 
More information about PaxVax is available at www.PaxVax.com .
 
SOURCE: PaxVax
 
PaxVax 
Investor Contact: 
Linda Rubinstein, EVP & CFO, +1 650-683-4146 
Media Contact: 
Maurissa Messier, +1 760-539-7417 
 
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