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Specialty Vaccine Company PaxVax Appoints Mark Meltz Executive Vice President and Chief Legal Officer
[September 03, 2014]

Specialty Vaccine Company PaxVax Appoints Mark Meltz Executive Vice President and Chief Legal Officer


REDWOOD CITY, Calif. --(Business Wire)--

PaxVax, Inc., a specialty vaccine company focused on travel and biodefense, today announced the appointment of Mark Meltz as Executive Vice President and Chief Legal Officer. In this role, Mr. Meltz will oversee all legal, intellectual property, business development, government affairs, compliance and corporate governance matters for the company.

Mr. Meltz joins PaxVax from Biogen Idec, where he was Associate General Counsel. In this role, he was the lead U.S. commercial lawyer for Tecfidera®, an oral multiple sclerosis therapy with sales of more than $1 billion in the U.S. since its launch in 2013. Prior, he was Head of Legal for North America at Novartis Vaccines and Diagnostics, where he had general counsel responsibilities for the U.S. and Canadian vaccine businesses. Previously, he served in a similar capacity for the Latin American region. Mr. Meltz also served as Counsel at global law firm Bingham McCutchen, where his work focused on mergers and acquisitions, venture capital financing, securities regulation and general corporate matters. Mr. Meltz holds a B.A. from Yale University and a J.D. from Boston College Law School.

"Mark's extensive legal background with leading pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies and his expertise in commercial and corporate matters makes him a srong addition to our senior leadership team," said Kenneth Kelley, PaxVax Chief Executive Officer. "His experience managing compliance programs, supporting operational teams, and advising on business transactions will be invaluable as we ramp up global commercial operations for our recently acquired oral typhoid vaccine, Vivotif®, and prepare for the commercial launch of our late-stage cholera vaccine candidate."



PaxVax has focused on the acquisition and development of effective, safe, affordable and easy-to-administer vaccines for travelers. In July of 2014, PaxVax acquired the FDA-approved typhoid vaccine Vivotif from Crucell Switzerland AG. PaxVax's pipeline includes a vaccine candidate for cholera, PXVX0200, which is nearing completion of its Phase 3 clinical trials and was granted FDA Fast Track designation as there is no vaccine available in the U.S. against this infectious disease. PaxVax also intends to develop a hepatitis A vaccine for travelers and has a pipeline of early-stage travel vaccine candidates for dengue, malaria and rabies.

"PaxVax has built tremendous momentum with its deep pipeline and strategic acquisitions focused on the compelling yet overlooked market for travel vaccines," said Mr. Meltz. "I am excited to work closely with Ken and the entire team to build PaxVax into the world's leading supplier of specialty vaccines."


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 both 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 HSV. 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.


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