SEATTLE, April 11, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Curevo Vaccine (Curevo), a privately held clinical-stage biotechnology company dedicated to reducing the burden of infectious disease by developing safe and highly-effective vaccines, today announced Dr. Guy De La Rosa has joined the company as its new Chief Medical Officer.
“The Curevo team is excited to welcome Dr. De La Rosa to the company,” said George Simeon, Curevo’s CEO. “Guy, with his 20-plus years of experience directing clinical trials in the infectious disease space, will immediately bring a positive impact to our CRV-101 vaccine programs against shingles and chickenpox.”
“During the course of several conversations with George and many of the team members at Curevo, it became clear to me this was a company I wanted to join,” said Dr. De La Rosa, “It’s an exceptionally productive team developing a very promising vaccine, and I’m excited to work with all of them to bring CRV-101 into use as quickly as we can.”
Dr. De La Rosa adds over 20 years of clinical experience to the Curevo team, previously directing successful development programs across multiple areas in the field of infectious disease. Prior to joining Curevo, Dr. De La Rosa worked for Enanta Pharmaceuticals, where he served in roles of increasing seniority, culminating as Executive Medical Director for Infectious Diseases, leading the clinical development for several assets for RSV, SARS-CoV-2, and HBV. Before to his tenure at Enanta, Dr. De La Rosa held positions with Abbott, Janssen, and Takeda Pharmaceuticals where he led the development of assets for HIV, HCV, RSV, and the Dengue Tetravalent Vaccine program.
Dr. De La Rosa earned his MD at the University of Panama School of Medicine. He completed his Internal Medicine Residency in Boston and his Infectious Diseases Fellowship at the University of Texas/M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. Upon completion of his Infectious Diseases Fellowship, Dr. De La Rosa completed a Fellowship in HIV Medicine at the University of Texas. Dr. De La Rosa also holds a degree in Tropical Medicine from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine in the UK. He has co-authored and collaborated on more than 60 scientific publications and presentations.
CRV-101 is a clinical-stage adjuvanted sub-unit vaccine under investigation for the prevention of shingles in older adults. Shingles is a painful blistering skin rash caused by a reactivation of the varicella zoster virus. About 1 in 10 people with shingles develop nerve pain, which can last for months or even years after the rash disappears. CRV-101 was specifically designed to produce an optimal immune response while using a more targeted adjuvant with the intention of achieving similar efficacy but with fewer side effects than the currently-approved shingles vaccine, Shingrix®. In clinical trials, CRV-101 demonstrated very robust immunogenicity as measured by humoral and cellular responses with no grade 3 injection site reactions and low rates of grade 3 systemic side effects (“grade 3” side effects are those vaccination-related reactions severe enough to prevent normal activities). According to the CDC website, about 1 in 6 patients (16.6%) receiving Shingrix® experienced side effects preventing them from participating in regular activities.1
About Curevo Vaccine
Curevo is a privately held, clinical-stage biotechnology company based near Seattle and dedicated to reducing the burden of infectious disease by developing safe and highly effective vaccines via its sub-unit vaccine technology platform. Its lead product is CRV-101, a sub-unit vaccine to prevent the reactivation of the varicella zoster virus (shingles) in older adults. Shingles is a serious medical condition involving a blistering skin rash where 1 in 10 people also develop serious, lasting nerve pain. The $4 billion shingles global vaccine market is characterized by product shortages and a high burden of vaccine-related side effects. Curevo is also developing a non-live, subunit chickenpox vaccine. For more information visit https://curevovaccine.com/.
Shingrix® is a registered trademark of GlaxoSmithKline, PLC.
Contacts
David Miller
Sr. Director of Strategic Communications
pr@curevovaccine.com
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1 https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/vpd/shingles/hcp/shingrix/about-vaccine.html
