Vaxart, Inc. (NASDAQ: VXRT), today announced the creation of an eight-member Scientific and Clinical Advisory Board.
The Advisory Board, whose first meeting occurred on July 24, 2021, is comprised of medical and health care professionals who are vaccine, research, and academic experts in immunology, microbiology, and infectious diseases.
"We are excited to have such preeminent leaders in their fields joining our Scientific and Clinical Advisory Board," said Andrei Floroiu, Vaxart's Chief Executive Officer. "We believe their participation reflects the seriousness of our mission, our science, and the disruptive promise of our oral vaccines. We will benefit from access to their years of experience and deep expertise as we continue to advance our portfolio of programs."
"I am excited by the work Vaxart is doing and the promise its work holds for improving public health," said Advisory Board member Dr. Robert B. Belshe, Adorjan Endowed Professor Emeritus of Infectious Diseases and Immunology at Saint Louis University.
"A room-temperature stable pill has the promise to change how we vaccinate people both in the U.S. and abroad. An oral tablet vaccine could help vaccinate more people sooner in more corners of the world, and thus has the potential to make a major contribution to public health globally," Dr. Belshe added.
The eight leaders joining Vaxart's Scientific and Clinical Advisory Board are:
Ralph Baric, Ph.D.
Professor, Department of Epidemiology, Microbiology,
and Immunology
Gillings School of Global Public Health
University of North Carolina
Ralph Baric, Ph.D., is a Distinguished Professor in the Department of Epidemiology and a Professor in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology. In addition, he is a World Technology Award Finalist and a fellow of the American Association for Microbiology. He has spent the past three decades as a world leader in the study of coronaviruses and is responsible for UNC-Chapel Hill's world leadership in coronavirus research.
The Baric Lab uses coronaviruses as models to study the genetics of RNA virus transcription, replication, persistence, pathogenesis, genetics, and cross-species transmission. He has used alphavirus vaccine vectors to develop novel candidate vaccines.
In 2017, 2018, and 2019, Baric was named to Clarivate Analytics' Highly Cited Researchers list, which recognizes researchers who have published the most widely cited papers in their field. In 2017, he was awarded a grant from The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) to accelerate the development of a new drug in the fight against coronaviruses, which is currently in clinical trials to reverse COVID-19 disease in humans. In this collaboration, he continued his partnership between the Gillings School of Global Public Health and Gilead Sciences to focus on an experimental antiviral treatment that he had previously shown to prevent the development of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV) in mice. The drug was also shown to inhibit MERS-CoV and multiple other coronaviruses (CoV), suggesting that it may actually inhibit all CoV. He continues to work with this drug.
Robert Belshe, M.D.
Professor Emeritus, Division of Infectious Diseases, Allergy, and Immunology,
Founder, Center for Vaccine Development
St. Louis University
Robert Belshe, M.D., directed the NIH-funded Vaccine and Treatment Evaluation Unit (VTEU) at St. Louis University for the past three decades. His clinical and laboratory research interests include the development of live attenuated respiratory virus vaccines. Recent clinical projects include the evaluation of novel vaccines for influenza, including the live attenuated influenza vaccine available for children and adults aged 2-49. Belshe coordinated 50 other academic centers to evaluate a subunit vaccine for HSV2 in women ages 18-30. More than 8,300 women participated in the trial.
Past successes include evaluating haemophilus conjugate vaccines in infants and pneumococcal vaccines in infants and adults, demonstrating that smallpox vaccine dilutions could extend the national vaccine reserve by tenfold, ev...
(All Rights Reserved)