Healthcare Industry News: CLL
News Release - July 23, 2008
Vaccine Executive Staph Bakali Joins Genocea Biosciences' Board of Directors
Director at Intercell AG and Former COO of ID Biomedical brings 20 years of vaccine development and management expertiseCAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(HSMN NewsFeed)--Genocea Biosciences, a leading vaccine discovery and development company, today announced that it has added Mustapha Leavenworth Bakali to its Board of Directors as Executive Director.
"Staph has been instrumental in building some of the most successful vaccine companies in the world," said Genocea Chief Executive Officer Robert Paull. "His diverse operational, deal-making, and entrepreneurial experience in vaccines is the perfect complement to the leading scientific minds we’ve attracted to Genocea. We’re proud to add Staph to our Board of Directors.”
Over the past 20 years, Mr. Bakali has helped create close to $10 billion in value through senior operating and leadership positions at ID Biomedical [acquired by GlaxoSmithKline], PowderJect Pharmaceuticals [acquired by Chiron], Chiron Vaccines [acquired by Novartis], and board membership at Intercell AG [VSE:ICLL].
Mr. Bakali is the former Chief Operating Officer of ID Biomedical (IDB), a Vancouver, Canada-based company focused on vaccines for influenza. In this role, Mr. Bakali had full responsibility for profit and loss and global operations, including sales and marketing, research and development, industrial operations, quality operations, and environmental health and safety. Mr. Bakali managed a staff of more than 500 employees based in five sites located in the U.S. and Canada. Mr. Bakali played a significant role in transforming the company from an R&D organization into a fully-integrated biotech company, and helping IDB double its market cap within two years. He was significantly involved in the acquisition of Shire Biologics by ID Biomedical and led the efforts to integrate the newly acquired company. In 2005, ID Biomedical was acquired by GlaxoSmithKline for $1.4 billion.
Prior to ID Biomedical, Mr. Bakali was Chief Operating Officer of Oxford, England-based PowderJect Pharmaceuticals. During his tenure at PowderJect, Mr. Bakali built the commercial and operational organization to over 800 employees in the U.S. and Europe and grew revenue to over $200 million. Mr. Bakali has also been the Director of Worldwide Sales and Marketing at Chiron Vaccines and the Director of SmithKline Beecham plc’s Vaccine Business Unit in France. Mr. Bakali is currently a non-executive Director at Vienna, Austria-based Intercell AG and Director at Canadian mining company Osisko Exploration. Mr. Bakali holds a Masters in Management from London Business School.
“Antigen discovery is the largest driver of value creation in the vaccine industry,” said Bakali. “Genocea’s technology has the potential to cause major shifts in market leadership and enable new entrants in the vaccine industry. I am excited to bring my years of vaccine development, management and sales experience to assist Genocea and to work with some of the leading figures in the global vaccine industry.”
About Genocea Biosciences:
Genocea Biosciences was founded in 2006 to commercialize key breakthroughs in vaccine discovery and development. Genocea can rapidly identify antigens that result in the in vivo stimulation of protective antigens, targets that can be immediately incorporated into existing vaccine delivery systems to produce multivalent vaccine formulations that have the highest probability of generating protective cell-mediated immunity. Genocea is currently developing vaccines for chlamydia trachomatis and streptococcus pneumoniae. In 2008, Genocea was awarded “Best Vaccine Startup” at the World Vaccine Congress and was selected one of the 15 most exciting biotech startup companies by FierceBiotech. Investors include Lux Capital Management and Polaris Venture Partners. Visit www.genocea.com for more information.
Source: Genocea Biosciences
Issuer of this News Release is solely responsible for its
content.
Please address inquiries directly to the issuing company.
