Intravacc appoints Dr Jan Groen as CEO

Bilthoven, The Netherlands – 07.00 CRT, April 3, 2020 – Intravacc, one of the leading translational research and development vaccine institutes with an extensive track record developing viral and bacterial vaccines from discovery to lead concept to clinical phase I/II, today announced the appointment of Dr. Jan Groen as its Chief Executive Officer, effective 1 May 2020.

Dr Groen has many years of experience in Life Sciences and Biotech and holds a PhD degree in medical microbiology. Dr. Groen has held numerous executive management and board mandates in international profit and nonprofit companies and organizations. He built several successful commercial biotech companies in Europe and the US, and raised over $150 million for private and public companies.

Mr Nico Oudendijk, General Director of Intravacc said: “With Dr. Groen, we have found the right person to take Intravacc into the new phase of an independent vaccine research organization”.

Dr Groen stated: “I am delighted to join Intravacc, an institute with a tremendous track record in vaccinology. Developing and improving vaccines remains vitally important in the world today and with its unique one-stop facilities, Intravacc can be at the forefront of the (co)development of a coronavirus vaccine. I look forward to working together with the professional and highly committed staff to develop Intravacc into a successful organistation within the vaccine industry”.

During the past decade, EV D68 infections have notably increased in North America, Europe and Asia. In 2014, the United States experienced a large outbreak of severe respiratory disease caused by EV D68, which is increasingly been recognized as a significant respiratory pathogen in children. No effective vaccines or antiviral drugs are currently available, and it is anticipated that the virus may cause larger outbreaks in the future. In this contract, an inactivated EV D68 vaccine will be developed up to first-in-human testing, including virus rescue, assay and process development, preclinical and toxicology studies and production of clinical trial material. The EV D68 vaccine to be developed under the contract will be the first AFM vaccine to go through to clinical development. The project has been funded in whole or in part with US Federal funds from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, under Contract No. 75N93020C00037.