Aviron appoints vice president for research and technical affairs.

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 31, 1995--Aviron Tuesday announced it has appointed Martin L. Bryant, M.D., Ph.D., as vice president, research, and Victor A. Jegede, Ph.D., as vice president, technical affairs.

Bryant will implement and direct Aviron's live virus vaccine research programs, while Jegede will coordinate regulatory interaction with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and oversee the company's quality management functions, according to J. Leighton Read, M.D., chairman and CEO.

"Both of these scientists will play key roles in the next stage of Aviron's development -- bringing our products to the marketplace," Read said. "Dr. Bryant is an expert in the field of infectious disease, especially in the development of HIV therapeutics. Dr. Jegede has extensive experience in regulatory affairs and quality management and will ensure Aviron's compliance with all FDA regulatory requirements."

Bryant was most recently director of the infectious disease discovery unit at G.D. Searle & Co./Monsanto, where he brought two HIV therapeutic candidates from early-stage research to human studies and advanced potential drugs for HSV and CMV to the preclinical stage, all within a four-year period.

"While enjoying the challenge of drug development in my previous position, I recognize that antiviral therapeutics are unlikely to have more than a palliative effect on targeted diseases," said Bryant. "Speaking as a pediatrician, I am particularly aware that antiviral therapeutics will simply never approach the elegant solution to disease prevention represented by the vaccines under development at Aviron."

While at G.D. Searle/Monsanto, Bryant was also an adjunct associate professor of molecular microbiology at the Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, and a fellow in infectious diseases at the affiliated Children's Hospital. He previously worked for the Public Health Service with an emphasis on environmental/medical pathology at the University of California, Davis, and was a research fellow in primate retrovirology at the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

In 1990, Bryant received the Young Investigator Award from the American Society for Microbiology/ICCAC. He did his residency in pediatrics at the University of California, San Diego, and served his internship at Duke University Children's Hospital. Bryant received his M.D. and Ph.D. from the University of Southern California.

Jegede was most recently vice president, regulatory affairs and quality, at Creative Biomolecules Inc., where he was responsible for regulatory affairs, preclinical and clinical development, quality assurance, quality control, validation, and environmental health and safety.

Earlier, he held senior scientific management positions as director, technical affairs and quality, WelGen Manufacturing Partnership (Burroughs Welcome Manufacturing Inc.); vice president, regulatory affairs and quality management, Invitron Corp.; and responsible head and director of regulatory affairs and validation at Lederle Laboratories. He received his M.S. in biology and Ph.D. in bacteriology from Boston College.

"As a senior regulatory professional, Dr. Jegede has a broad technical background in preclinical and clinical management, regulatory filings, license amendments and supplements for biological products, and the coordination of domestic and foreign FDA (CBER) inspection and audits," said Francis R. Cano, Ph.D., president and chief operating officer of Aviron. "He also has vaccine-specific experience, including facilitating the licensure of the first vaccine for meningitis while at Lederle Laboratories."

Aviron is an emerging biopharmaceutical company whose strategy is to focus on the prevention of disease. The company's goal is to develop genetically engineered live vaccine products to prevent a wide range of viral infections that affect the general population, providing a cost-effective means of addressing a number of major diseases.

Aviron was founded by Read, co-founder of Affymax, and three leading university scientists: Peter Palese, Ph.D., The Mount Sinai School of Medicine; Bernard Roizman, Sc.D., University of Chicago; and Richard Whitley, M.D., University of Alabama School of Medicine.

The company is developing vaccines against respiratory syncytial virus, cytomegalovirus, varicella zoster virus and is currently in preclinical trials with its herpes simplex virus and recombinant influenza vaccine candidates.

CONTACT: Aviron, San Francisco

J. Leighton Read, 415/696-9100

or

Keatinge/Seaton Communications

Richard W. Keatinge, 619/625-2100