Actelion creates Vaxxilon together with the Max Planck Society - Seite 2

Prof. Dr. Seeberger, Director at the Max Planck Institute for Colloids and Interfaces, commented: "I am very proud that the ground-breaking research and technology from the Max Planck Society in cooperation with my colleague at the University Hospital of Basel, Prof. Gennaro de Libero, will be advanced in the form of Vaxxilon. I believe that the speed and flexibility of a small company, combined with Actelion's financial backing, will allow this novel vaccine technology to progress and eventually be made available to society quickly and efficiently. This new class of vaccines promises to be perhaps more efficient, faster and more reproducible to create and manufacture, and has advantages of distribution and administration which may improve access to vaccines around the world."

Vaxxilon will be led by Tom Monroe who has served in multiple and varied roles of growing responsibility at Actelion over the past 15 years. Four accomplished chemists from Prof. Seeberger's group will form the initial scientific team at Vaxxilon, and recruitment will begin quickly for additional experienced personnel. Vaxxilon, a Swiss limited liability company, will be headquartered in Reinach, Switzerland, and a research facility will be established in Berlin.

The company will be overseen by a Board of Directors with representatives of Actelion, Prof. Seeberger, and an independent director as well as an observer from the Max Planck Society. David Stout, recently elected to the Actelion Board of Directors, and former President of Pharmaceutical Operations at GlaxoSmithKline, will serve as chairman.

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Notes to Editor:

ABOUT SYNTHETIC CARBOHYDRATE VACCINES [1]

Currently available carbohydrate conjugate vaccines are made using polysaccharides isolated from bacteria. Automated methods to synthesize carbohydrates rapidly enable the construction of novel vaccines in the laboratory and accelerate research into effective antigens. These vaccines combine a synthetic oligosaccharide with a glycolipid CD1d ligand and could remove the requirement for protein carrier and immune stimulator (adjuvant).