Vical Appoints Dr. Thomas Shenk to Board of Directors
December 21 2015 - 4:15PM
Vical Incorporated (Nasdaq:VICL), a biotechnology company
developing vaccines and therapeutics for prevention and treatment
of infectious diseases, today announced that Thomas E. Shenk, Ph.D.
will join Vical’s Board of Directors. Dr. Shenk, currently the
James A. Elkins Professor in the Life Sciences at Princeton
University, is a pre-eminent virologist and leading expert on human
cytomegalovirus. His appointment to the Board was effective
December 18, 2015, and Stephen A. Sherwin, M.D., stepped down at
that time.
“We are extremely pleased to have Tom join us on the Board, as
this significantly enhances our infectious disease expertise,” said
Vijay Samant, President and Chief Executive Officer of Vical. “His
understanding of CMV is virtually unparalleled and will be
critically important to us as we continue to advance our ASP0113
CMV vaccine program with Astellas. During 2016, we anticipate that
Astellas will have top line data from the Phase 2 trial in kidney
transplant patients and complete enrollment in the Phase 3 trial in
hematopoietic stem cell transplant recipients, which is expected to
read out during 2017.”
Dr. Shenk’s research has focused on gene functions and
pathogenesis of adenovirus, a DNA tumor virus, and, more recently,
human cytomegalovirus. His laboratory’s current areas of focus
include the use of genetic and proteomic approaches for the
dissection of cytomegalovirus gene functions and the cellular
response to infection, as well as the development and analysis of
models for study of viral latency. Dr. Shenk is a fellow of the
American Academy of Microbiology and the American Academy of Arts
and Sciences. He is also a member of the U.S. National Academy of
Sciences and the U.S. National Academy of Medicine. He is a past
president of the American Society for Virology and the American
Society for Microbiology, and he served on the board of directors
of Merck & Company for 11 years. He currently serves on several
boards, including the Forge Life Science, Kadmon Corporation and
MeiraGTx.
Samant continued, “The Board and I are are also grateful to
Steve for his contributions to Vical. His scientific and business
acumen and industry experience have been extremely valuable, and
were particularly vital when oncology was a focus in our
portfolio.”
About Vical
Vical develops biopharmaceutical products for the prevention and
treatment of chronic or life-threatening infectious diseases, based
on its patented DNA delivery technologies and other therapeutic
approaches. Additional information on Vical is available at
www.vical.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements subject
to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to
differ materially from those projected. Forward-looking statements
include anticipated developments in collaborative programs,
including the timing of data for clinical trials. Risks and
uncertainties include whether Vical or others will continue
development of ASP0113; whether any product candidates will
be shown to be safe and efficacious in clinical trials; whether
Vical is able to continue its collaborative arrangements or enter
into new ones; the timing of clinical trials; whether Vical or its
collaborative partners will seek or gain approval to market any
product candidates; and additional risks set forth in the Company's
filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. These
forward-looking statements represent the Company's judgment as of
the date of this release. The Company disclaims, however, any
intent or obligation to update these forward-looking
statements.
Contact: Andrew Hopkins
(858) 646-1127
Website: www.vical.com
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