Enesi Pharma Appoints Vaccine Development Expert Dr Keith Howard as Chief Scientific Officer to Lead Research & Development of Novel ImplaVax® Solid-dose, Needle-free Vaccination Products

OXFORD, England, Sept. 28, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Enesi Pharma ("Enesi"), an innovative biotechnology company developing next-generation vaccination products targeting infectious diseases and emergent threat pathogens enabled by its world leading ImplaVax® technologies, is delighted to announce the appointment of Keith Howard as Chief Scientific Officer. Dr Howard is a seasoned vaccine development expert who will lead Enesi's R&D efforts to develop novel solid-dose vaccines for needle-free delivery for both in-house and partnered programmes, progressing them into clinical development.

Dr Howard brings more than 35 years of experience in vaccine development spent in industry and academia and has led the development of viral vectors and vaccines across multiple formats (recombinant, viral vector, live attenuated virus, etc) at several biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies. Prior to joining Enesi, Dr Howard was Chief Development Officer at Oxford-based Vaccitech, where he was the head of R&D, process development and manufacturing for its novel viral vector vaccine programmes. Before that, he was Senior Director and Head of Manufacturing Science & Technology for FluMist (live attenuated influenza vaccine) at Medimmune, where he led a team of 40 scientists.

Prior to this, Dr Howard was a Director of Vaccines Analytical Development at Pfizer Biotech, and he also spent ten years at Baxter AG in various positions including that of Director of Vaccines R&D. Further roles included Head of Vector Development at Oxxon Therapeutics and Director of Neuronal Gene Therapy at Cantab Pharmaceuticals.

David Hipkiss, Enesi Pharma CEO, commented:

"I am delighted to welcome Keith to Enesi and to lead our R&D efforts. His deep experience in pre-clinical and clinical development of vaccines across a broad range of formats is a perfect complement to our existing R&D team. His expertise will prove invaluable as we continue to develop next generation vaccine products enabled by our ImplaVax® formulation and needle-free delivery device technologies. Under Keith's leadership, we will be in a great position to advance and accelerate our multiple in-house and partnered programmes into clinical development."

Keith Howard added: 

"Enesi Pharma combines unique formulation capabilities and a novel mode of delivery, which shows great promise in many applications and disease areas. ImplaVax® has the potential to make a material difference globally, as evidenced by the breadth of partnerships and the success of pre-clinical studies to date, and I am delighted to be joining at this incredibly exciting time for the Company."

About Enesi Pharma

Enesi Pharma is developing next-generation vaccination products targeting infectious diseases and emergent threat pathogens enabled by its ImplaVax® technologies. These diseases affect millions of people around the world. We work in partnership with global companies, government agencies, leading academic institutions and non-governmental organisations with the goal of making a material and lasting positive impact on global health.

Our ImplaVax®-enabled vaccination products leverage our innovative unit solid-dose formulation and needle-free delivery technologies and are applicable across all vaccine formats. ImplaVax® products are designed to enhance the immune response and offer significant benefits for patients, care givers, healthcare professionals and payers through enhanced effectiveness, safety, ease of use, reliability and stability, and a strong subject preference over administration using needle and syringe. They can be administered with minimal training and are also rapidly deployable while eliminating the need for cold-chain storage.

Our pipeline targets a range of common and emerging infectious diseases, inflammatory diseases and allergies, and has been established through collaborations with world-class organisations, including BARDA DRIVe*, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Innovate UK, the University of Oxford, the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (WRAIR), Sementis and the University of Adelaide.

Enesi's experienced leadership team has a proven track record in the successful development and commercialisation of innovative products delivering high value outcomes for all stakeholders and is supported by a world-renowned Scientific Advisory Board.

*This project has been funded in whole or in part with US Federal funds from the Department of Health and Human Services; Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response; Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, DRIVe, under this contract.

CONTACTS

Enesi Pharma
David Hipkiss, CEO
Tel: +44 (0) 7968 707072
Email: david.hipkiss@enesipharma.com 

Citigate Dewe Rogerson (for Enesi Pharma)
Mark Swallow, Nathaniel Dahan
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7638 9571
Email: enesipharma@citigatedewerogerson.com 

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