Specialty Vaccine Company PaxVax Appoints Nima Farzan as President
REDWOOD CITY, Calif. – January 21, 2015 – PaxVax, Inc., a specialty vaccine company focused on travel and biodefense, today announced the appointment of Nima Farzan as President and Chief Operating Officer (COO). Mr. Farzan, who has served as PaxVax COO for the past three years, will be responsible for the company's global operations including the finance, production and commercial functions. The company also announced today that Mr. Farzan has joined the PaxVax Board of Directors. Kenneth Kelley will continue to serve as the company's Chief Executive Officer and as a Director.
"Nima has been instrumental in building PaxVax into a fully integrated commercial vaccine company with global sales and manufacturing capabilities," said Mr. Kelley. "Nima's operational expertise will continue to play an important role as we expand our international markets for our typhoid vaccine Vivotif, as well as expand our U.S. and European product portfolio, through marketing and distribution deals and product launches from our internal pipeline over the next couple years."
Mr. Farzan joined PaxVax in February 2012 from Novartis AG, where he spent more than seven years in positions of increasing responsibility in pharmaceutical marketing, sales and development in both U.S. and global positions. Most recently, he was Vice President of Marketing for Novartis Vaccines USA, where he was responsible for marketing, market access, pricing and key account sales, and also helped launch multiple new vaccines. Prior to Novartis, Mr. Farzan worked in marketing and business development at DoubleTwist, Inc., a pioneering genomics company. Before that, he was a consultant at The Boston Consulting Group. Mr. Farzan received an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School and an undergraduate degree in Human Biology from Stanford University.
"PaxVax has built the industry's most robust portfolio of commercial and late-stage vaccine candidates for compelling yet overlooked markets such as travel and biodefense," said Mr. Farzan. "I am very proud of what we have accomplished as a team and look forward to continuing to execute on our strategy to build the world's leading specialty vaccine company."
PaxVax has a portfolio of clinical and preclinical vaccine candidates that are supported by numerous grants, contracts, and awards from the NIH through the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), its Division of Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (DAIDS) and its Division of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (DMID), as well as the Wellcome Trust and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The company has raised more than $80 million from investors including Ignition Growth and Venture Partners, and Blue Haven Initiative.
About PaxVax
Founded in 2007, PaxVax is a fully integrated specialty vaccine company with a mission to protect people from infectious diseases. The company seeks financial returns through two specialty business strategies in travel and biodefense vaccines as well as social returns by providing access to its vaccines globally and by developing vaccines addressing some of the world's most lethal infectious diseases. The PaxVax portfolio includes a licensed vaccine for typhoid (Vivotif®), vaccines in clinical development for cholera, anthrax, HIV, and H5N1 (pandemic bird flu) and in research for malaria, dengue, rabies and Herpes Simplex Virus. PaxVax is headquartered in Redwood City, California and maintains research and development and Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) facilities in San Diego, California, USA, and its newly acquired facility near Bern, Switzerland. More information is available at www.PaxVax.com.
Media Contact
Colin Sanford
For PaxVax, Inc.
415-870-9188
