- Dr. Fanning brings a wealth of experience in creating infectious disease pipelines by internal R&D and licensing
- As the CBO of AstriVax, he will lead the company’s business development, including partnerships, collaborations and non dilutive funding to drive the pipeline forward and create value for future funding rounds.
- His initial focus will be on the company’s candidate vaccine to treat chronic Hepatitis B and shape the future AstriVax vaccine pipeline.
Leuven, Belgium, March 19, 2024 – AstriVax is pleased to welcome Dr. Gregory Fanning as its Chief Business Officer. Dr. Fanning further strengthens the company’s top-notch leadership team, joining CEO and co-founder Dr. Hanne Callewaert, CTO Dr. Wilfried Dalemans, CDO Dr. Mathieu Peeters, and CFO Barbara Freitag.
Hanne Callewaert, Ph.D., co-founder and CEO of AstriVax, said: “Greg has been one of our scientific and strategic advisors almost from the very beginning and I am very happy to onboard him as part of our executive team. In his new role, he will lead our business development, asset partnering, new program evaluation, public-private partnerships, non-dilutive funding, and pipeline strategy. Greg will play a key role in our lead therapeutic program on chronic Hepatitis B, a condition linked to more than 800,000 deaths each year. The cure for this disease is likely to come from combining the AstriVax approach with that of several other companies. With his solid scientific background and business development experience, Greg will engage with potential partners to help us fit together the pieces of the puzzle.”
Gregory Fanning, Ph.D., said “Curing Hepatitis B will require a combination of approaches and a vaccine that elicits strong CD4 and CD8 responses will likely be the key that unlocks the potential of complementary MOAs being explored by the field, that have to date shown good reduction in viral readouts but relatively few cures”.
Greg brings over 20 years of experience as a scientific leader for infectious disease programs in the pharma industry and has supported companies in their efforts to grow beyond seed funding, build pipelines, initiate scientific programs, and create value. Before joining AstriVax, he worked for Janssen Pharmaceuticals (now J&J Innovative Medicine) in the areas of gene therapy and small molecule drug discovery. He held leadership roles and built R&D teams in Australia and Belgium and in China as an integral part of establishing the company’s Shanghai R&D center. More recently, he has served as an advisor to a handful of young innovative biotech companies, covering a broad range of therapeutic platforms.
Media Contact
Hanne Callewaert, Ph.D., CEO of AstriVax, info@astrivax.com.
About AstriVax
Founded in 2022, AstriVax NV aims to address global challenges in vaccinology with its innovative plug-and-play vaccine platform. The company develops novel prophylactic and therapeutic vaccines that are easy to produce, have reduced cold chain requirements, and offer broad and long-lasting protection against various infectious diseases. AstriVax is supported by well-known investors V-Bio Ventures, Fund+, Flanders Future TechFund managed by PMV, Thuja Capital, Ackermans & van Haaren, OMX Europe Venture Fund (Mérieux Equity Partners and Korys), BNP Paribas Fortis Private Equity, and the KU Leuven Gemma Frisius Fund.
AstriVax is located in the BioHub in Leuven. For more information, please visit www.astrivax.com.
