Vir Biotechnology Announces Nomination of Norbert Bischofberger, Ph.D. and Ramy Farid, Ph.D. to its Board of Directors

Vir Biotechnology, Inc. (“Vir” or “the Company”, Nasdaq: VIR) today announced the nomination of Norbert Bischofberger, Ph.D. and Ramy Farid, Ph.D. to its Board of Directors (the “Board”) at its upcoming annual meeting of stockholders on May 29, 2024 (the “Annual Meeting”). If elected, each of Drs. Bischofberger and Farid will join the Board on such date.

The nomination of the two new independent directors demonstrates Vir’s commitment to ongoing Board refreshment. Drs. Bischofberger and Farid bring extensive mid-to-late-stage clinical development and computational/data sciences expertise, respectively. Dr. Bischofberger, during his career, has overseen the development and approval of more than 25 medicines, and Dr. Farid currently leads one of the world’s foremost companies applying advanced computational methods to the discovery and development of breakthrough therapies.

Marianne De Backer, M.Sc., Ph.D., MBA, Vir’s Chief Executive Officer, said: “We are incredibly excited about the prospect of adding such highly talented directors in Norbert and Ramy to the Board. These are individuals who we expect will incorporate their tremendous expertise towards our discovery and clinical development programs, focused on infectious disease, viral-associated diseases and immune targeting with an end goal to help patients globally.”

The Company also announced that Phillip Sharp, Ph.D. and Robert Perez will not stand for reelection at the Annual Meeting. “The Board is deeply appreciative of the service of founding directors Phil and Rob for their long-time contributions to the Company. It has been an adventure and such a pleasure to work alongside them,” said Vicki Sato, Ph.D., Chairman of the Board. “We look forward to having Norbert and Ramy provide their scientific and strategic acumen to Vir, and to our very accomplished Board.”

Norbert Bischofberger, Ph.D., brings close to 40 years of experience as a biotech executive and in research and development leadership roles to the industry. He is currently President and Chief Executive Officer, and a member of the Board of Directors, of Kronos Bio, Inc., a clinical-stage company dedicated to the discovery and development of therapeutics that target the deregulated transcription that causes cancer and other serious diseases. Prior to joining Kronos, he was Executive Vice President, Research and Development and Chief Scientific Officer at Gilead Sciences, Inc., which he joined in 1990 as Director of Chemistry after having worked as a Senior Scientist in Genentech, Inc.’s DNA Synthesis Group from 1986 until 1990. During his 28-year tenure at Gilead, Dr. Bischofberger presided over the development and approval of more than 25 medicines for a range of serious conditions which led to the transformation of the treatment of diseases such as HIV and viral hepatitis, including HBV and HCV. Dr. Bischofberger was part of the core management team that grew Gilead from less than 50 employees with no revenue to 10,000 employees with $25B in revenue. He received a Ph.D. in organic chemistry from Zurich’s Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule and performed postdoctoral research in steroid chemistry at Syntex. He also performed additional research in organic chemistry and applied enzymology in Professor George Whiteside’s lab at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Dr. Bischofberger received an honorary doctorate in Natural Sciences (2016) from The University of Innsbruck and an honorary doctorate in Letters in Medicine (2017) from Baylor College of Medicine. He was elected a Fellow of The American Association for Advancement of Science (2018). In addition to Kronos Bio, Dr. Bischofberger serves on the Board of Directors of Morphic Therapeutic Inc., a U.S. publicly traded biopharmaceutical company, the Supervisory Board of Bayer AG, a multinational public company with core competencies in the life science fields of health care and agriculture, and the Biopharma Advisory Board of Ginkgo Bioworks. Dr. Bischofberger’s appointment at Bayer AG will end on April 26, 2024, prior to the date of Vir’s Annual Meeting.