Strategic Appointment Enhances GeoVax’s Leadership and Expertise in Vaccine Development
ATLANTA, GA, August 8, 2024 – GeoVax Labs, Inc. (Nasdaq: GOVX), a biotechnology company developing immunotherapies and vaccines against cancers and infectious diseases, today announced the appointment of Teresa Lambe, PhD, OBE, FMedSci to its Scientific Advisory Board.
Professor Lambe is the Calleva Head of Vaccine Immunology at the Oxford Vaccine Group within the University of Oxford and a Principal Investigator at the Pandemic Sciences Institute (PSI). She served as one of the Principal Investigators who oversaw the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine program; she co-designed the vaccine in January 2020, led the preclinical studies, and oversaw the delivery of the immune results needed to support regulatory approval in late 2020. Professor Lambe was appointed as an honorary Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for her services to Sciences and Public Health in the 2021 Queen’s Birthday Honours and received the Presidential Distinguished Service Award for the Irish Abroad in 2022. In May 2024 she was elected a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences, one of the most prestigious awards in the field.
Professor Lambe’s research focuses on delineating the protective immune response post infection and using these findings to rationally design vaccination strategies to prevent disease. Her group is currently developing and testing vaccines against a number of outbreak pathogens including Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever, Ebola virus, Marburg virus and Coronaviruses. A number of these vaccines have progressed to clinical trial assessment, including vaccines against Ebola and Marburg virus.
Dr. Mark Newman, GeoVax’s Chief Scientific Officer, commented, “We are thrilled to welcome Professor Lambe to our Scientific Advisory Board. Her extensive experience and groundbreaking work in vaccine development, particularly her pivotal role in the development of the Oxford/AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, will be invaluable as we continue to advance our own vaccine and immunotherapy programs. Her expertise dovetails perfectly with our product portfolio, including the recent BARDA Project NextGen Award for the development of next-generation COVID-19 vaccines. Her insights will be crucial in accelerating our efforts to bring innovative solutions to high-risk and immunocompromised populations.”
David Dodd, GeoVax’s Chairman and CEO, added, “Professor Lambe’s expertise in immunology and her innovative approach to vaccine development align perfectly with GeoVax’s mission to address some of the world’s most challenging infectious diseases. Her insights and guidance will be critical as we move forward with our clinical trials and seek to bring new, life-saving therapies to market.”
Professor Lambe expressed her enthusiasm about joining GeoVax, stating, “I am honored to join the Scientific Advisory Board of GeoVax. The Company’s dedication to developing innovative vaccines and immunotherapies is truly inspiring. I look forward to working with the team and contributing to the advancement of their promising pipeline of candidates.”
About GeoVax
GeoVax Labs, Inc. is a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing novel vaccines for many of the world’s most threatening infectious diseases and therapies for solid tumor cancers. The company’s lead clinical program is GEO-CM04S1, a next-generation COVID-19 vaccine for which GeoVax was recently awarded a BARDA-funded contract to sponsor a 10,000-participant Phase 2b clinical trial to evaluate the efficacy of GEO-CM04S1 versus an approved COVID-19 vaccine. In addition, GEO-CM04S1 is currently in three Phase 2 clinical trials, being evaluated as (1) a primary vaccine for immunocompromised patients such as those suffering from hematologic cancers and other patient populations for whom the current authorized COVID-19 vaccines are insufficient, (2) a booster vaccine in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and (3) a more robust, durable COVID-19 booster among healthy patients who previously received the mRNA vaccines. In oncology the lead clinical program is evaluating a novel oncolytic solid tumor gene-directed therapy, Gedeptin®, in a multicenter Phase 1/2 clinical trial for advanced head and neck cancers. GeoVax has a strong IP portfolio in support of its technologies and product candidates, holding worldwide rights for its technologies and products. The Company has a leadership team who have driven significant value creation across multiple life science companies over the past several decades. For more information about the current status of our clinical trials and other updates, visit our website: www.geovax.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
This release contains forward-looking statements regarding GeoVax’s business plans. The words “believe,” “look forward to,” “may,” “estimate,” “continue,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “should,” “plan,” “could,” “target,” “potential,” “is likely,” “will,” “expect” and similar expressions, as they relate to us, are intended to identify forward-looking statements. We have based these forward-looking statements largely on our current expectations and projections about future events and financial trends that we believe may affect our financial condition, results of operations, business strategy and financial needs. Actual results may differ materially from those included in these statements due to a variety of factors, including whether: GeoVax is able to obtain acceptable results from ongoing or future clinical trials of its investigational products, GeoVax’s immuno-oncology products and preventative vaccines can provoke the desired responses, and those products or vaccines can be used effectively, GeoVax’s viral vector technology adequately amplifies immune responses to cancer antigens, GeoVax can develop and manufacture its immuno-oncology products and preventative vaccines with the desired characteristics in a timely manner, GeoVax’s immuno-oncology products and preventative vaccines will be safe for human use, GeoVax’s vaccines will effectively prevent targeted infections in humans, GeoVax’s immuno-oncology products and preventative vaccines will receive regulatory approvals necessary to be licensed and marketed, GeoVax raises required capital to complete development, there is development of competitive products that may be more effective or easier to use than GeoVax’s products, GeoVax will be able to enter into favorable manufacturing and distribution agreements, and other factors, over which GeoVax has no control.
Further information on our risk factors is contained in our periodic reports on Form 10-Q and Form 10-K that we have filed and will file with the SEC. Any forward-looking statement made by us herein speaks only as of the date on which it is made. Factors or events that could cause our actual results to differ may emerge from time to time, and it is not possible for us to predict all of them. We undertake no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise, except as may be required by law.