X-Vax Technology Appoints Varsha K. Jain, MD as Chief Clinical Development Officer

X-Vax Technology, Inc. (X-VAX^®), a biotechnology company developing vaccines based on a new approach that mediates the killing of infected cells, today announced the appointment of Varsha K. Jain, MD as Chief Clinical Development Officer. In her new role, Dr. Jain will be responsible for strategy and execution of the company’s clinical development plan, including preparing for a Phase 1 clinical study of the company’s lead herpes candidate vaccine, ∆gD-2 (delta gD-2).

“After working with X-VAX for the past few years as a clinical consultant, I am excited to join the company as we are getting ready to initiate the first clinical study of ∆gD-2 in 2022,” said Dr. Jain. “I have been impressed by both the scientific data and the company’s experienced management team – inspired by imagination and driven by passion.”

Previously, Dr. Jain served as Senior Program Officer, Vaccine Development and Surveillance at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Earlier in her career, she oversaw influenza, herpes and Lyme disease vaccine programs in Global Vaccine Discovery and Development at GlaxoSmithKline (GSK). Following her medical education in India, Dr. Jain completed her Pediatrics residency and Pediatric Infectious Diseases fellowship in New York, and was conferred an M.D. by the University of the State of New York. She also holds a Master of Public Health from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Reporting to Varsha K. Jain, MD will be Guissou Dabiri, PhD, who joined X-VAX as Head of Scientific Communications, and Michael Schwartz, Head of Clinical Trials Management. As a consultant, Florian Schödel, MD, PhD continues in his role as Chief Scientific Advisor for both research and development, including scientific liaison with Albert Einstein College of Medicine, reporting to Ulf Wiinberg, President and CEO of X-VAX.