GeoVax Appoints Mark J. Newman, Ph.D. Chief Scientific Officer
ATLANTA, GA, Aug. 26, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) --
via NEWMEDIAWIRE -- . (OTCQB: GOVX), a biotechnology company developing human immunotherapies and vaccines against infectious diseases and cancer, announces today the appointment of Mark J. Newman, Ph.D. as Chief Scientific Officer.
Dr. Newman, who previously served the company as vice president of research and development from 2010 to 2013, joins GeoVax on a half-time basis. The other portion of his working time will be devoted primarily to his work at NewMark Diagnostics, which he founded in 2016. Prior, he served senior management positions at PaxVax, Pharmexa A/S, Epimmune, Vaxcel, Apollon, and Cambridge Biotech. During his 30-year career he shepherded the development of experimental vaccine and adjuvant products through preclinical research and into Phase 1 & 2 clinical testing. He is widely published in peer review publications and holds 10 U.S. patents. He holds a dual B.Sc/M.Sc. degree in Agriculture and Pre-Veterinary Medicine from the Ohio State University and earned his Ph.D. in Immunology at the John Curtin School for Medical Research, The Australian National University, Canberra.
David Dodd, GeoVax President and CEO, commented, “We are delighted to welcome Mark back to GeoVax and look forward to his guidance as we enter this pivotal period in the company’s evolution. His familiarity with the management team and our MVA technology will translate into a rapid integration, for which we are excited. We look forward working with Mark as we embark onto this next exciting phase for GeoVax.”
About GeoVax
GeoVax Labs, Inc. is a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing human vaccines against infectious diseases and cancer using a novel patented Modified Vaccinia Ankara-Virus Like Particle (MVA-VLP) based vaccine platform. On this platform, MVA, a large virus capable of carrying several vaccine antigens, expresses proteins that assemble into VLP immunogens within (in vivo) the person receiving the vaccine. The production of VLPs in the person being vaccinated mimics virus production in a natural infection, stimulating both the humoral and cellular arms of the immune system to recognize, prevent, and control the target infection. The MVA-VLP derived vaccines elicit durable immune responses in the host similar to a live-attenuated virus, while providing the safety characteristics of a replication-defective vector.
GeoVax’s current development programs are focused on preventive vaccines against COVID-19, HIV, Zika Virus, hemorrhagic fever viruses (Ebola, Sudan, Marburg, and Lassa), and malaria, as well as therapeutic vaccines against multiple cancers. The Company has designed the leading preventive HIV vaccine candidate to fight against the subtype of HIV prevalent in the commercial markets of the Americas, Western Europe, Japan, and Australia; human clinical trials for this program are managed by the HIV Vaccine Trials Network (HVTN) with the support of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). GeoVax’s HIV vaccine is also part of two separate collaborative efforts to apply its innovative gene therapy approach toward a functional cure for HIV. For more information, visit .
Forward-Looking Statements
Certain statements in this document are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act. These statements are based on management's current expectations and are subject to uncertainty and changes in circumstances. Actual results may differ materially from those included in these statements due to a variety of factors, including whether: GeoVax can develop and manufacture its vaccines with the desired characteristics in a timely manner, GeoVax's vaccines will be safe for human use, GeoVax's vaccines will effectively prevent targeted infections in humans, GeoVax’s vaccines will receive regulatory approvals necessary to be licensed and marketed, GeoVax raises required capital to complete vaccine development, there is development of competitive products that may be more effective or easier to use than GeoVax's products, GeoVax will be able to enter into favorable manufacturing and distribution agreements, and other factors, over which GeoVax has no control. GeoVax assumes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements and does not intend to do so. More information about these factors is contained in GeoVax's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission including those set forth at "Risk Factors" in GeoVax's Form 10-K.
GeoVax Labs, Inc.
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