WASHINGTON, July 1, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- The Alliance for
Biosecurity announced it recently elected Anders Hedegaard, President and CEO, Bavarian
Nordic, and Elizabeth Posillico,
PhD, President and CEO, Elusys Therapeutics, as its new
co-chairs. They will represent the Alliance before the U.S.
government and other agencies, to advance the development of new
medical countermeasures to be used against Chemical, Biological,
Radiological and Nuclear threats. Hedegaard and Posillico
will each serve a two-year term, which commenced on June 1, 2013.
The Alliance for Biosecurity was formed in 2005 with the vision
of improving the nation's biosecurity through the development of
medical countermeasures (MCMs) to address a range of bioterrorism
and natural pandemic threats. Activities of the Alliance include
educating Congress and other government stakeholders about
biosecurity and drug development issues, promoting the success of
the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA),
advancing the science of animal model development, accelerating MCM
development and presenting consensus policy proposals to the
government.
The Alliance has successfully advocated for preserving the
BioShield Special Reserve Fund and BARDA to maintain funding for
the development and procurement of MCMs. In addition, several
Alliance recommendations for enhancing the regulatory pathway for
MCMs and better integrating the Food and Drug Administration into
the development process were adopted in recently enacted
legislation.
"We are at a critical time, where further funding, research and
development of medical countermeasures are necessary to ensure that
preparedness programs continue to be carefully planned and
sustained over the long-term, creating the national capabilities
needed to protect Americans from public health threats," said
Posillico. "Our efforts at the Alliance will also help to promote
the success of BARDA and its important work developing medical
countermeasures against a broad array of public health
threats."
"Alliance members applaud the recent five-year reauthorization
of the Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness Act, which extends
funding for Project BioShield and also enacts initiatives to speed
the development of medical countermeasures," said Hedegaard. "We
look forward to working with elected officials to safeguard public
health by ensuring that important vaccines and therapeutics against
life-threatening infectious diseases continue to be developed,
supplied and are available when needed."
About Bavarian Nordic
Bavarian Nordic is a
vaccine-focused biotechnology company developing and producing
novel vaccines for the treatment and prevention of life-threatening
diseases with a large unmet medical need. The company's pipeline
targets cancer and infectious diseases, and includes ten
development programs. In oncology, the company's lead program is
PROSTVAC®, a therapeutic vaccine candidate for advanced
prostate cancer that is the subject of an ongoing pivotal Phase 3
clinical trial and is being developed under a collaboration
agreement with the National Cancer Institute. In clinical Phase 1
and Phase 2 trials, PROSTVAC® has been tested in nearly
600 patients. In infectious diseases, the company's lead program is
IMVAMUNE®/IMVANEX®, a non-replicating
smallpox vaccine candidate that is being developed and supplied for
emergency use to the U.S. Strategic National Stockpile under a
contract with the U.S. Government. IMVAMUNE®/
IMVANEX® is currently in clinical Phase 3 development
and marketing authorization applications have been filed in EU and
Canada. Bavarian Nordic's shares
are listed on NASDAQ OMX Copenhagen under the symbol BAVA (Reuters:
BAVA.CO, Bloomberg: BAVA.DC). The company has a sponsored Level 1
ADR program listed in the U.S. (OTC) under the symbol BVNRY. For
more information, visit www.bavarian-nordic.com
About Elusys Therapeutics, Inc.
Elusys Therapeutics, a
private company based in Pine Brook,
NJ, is focused on the development of antibody therapeutics
for the treatment of life-threatening disease. Elusys has been
engaged in development of biodefense countermeasures since 2000.
The company has established experience in government contract
management and to date has received multiple grants and contracts
totaling over $200 million for the
development of ETI-204 as a biowarfare countermeasure to protect
people in the event of an anthrax attack. ETI-204, a highly
effective, anthrax anti-toxin, is in late-stage development and is
a strong candidate for procurement into the Strategic National
Stockpile. For more information, please visit www.elusys.com.
About the Alliance for Biosecurity
The Alliance for
Biosecurity is a collaboration among pharmaceutical and
biotechnology companies that are working in the public interest to
improve prevention and treatment of severe infectious
diseases—particularly those diseases that present global security
challenges. The Alliance for Biosecurity promotes a stronger, more
effective partnership between government, the biopharmaceutical
industry, and other stakeholders in order to advance their shared
goal of developing critically needed medical
countermeasures. The Alliance also seeks to develop sound
public policy proposals that could bolster national efforts to
rapidly develop, produce, stockpile, and distribute medical
countermeasures. Alliance member companies believe that
innovations created in the biodefense space can inform and
accelerate drug and vaccine development in many critical
areas. The Alliance supports a long-term national security
vision for achieving and sustaining defenses against a range of
bioterror threats that present national security challenges. For
more information, visit the Alliance for Biosecurity website at
www.allianceforbiosecurity.org.
SOURCE Alliance for Biosecurity