6 December 2019 - - US-based orphan lung disease company Savara Inc. (NASDAQ: SVRA) has appointed Dr. An van Es-Johansson, M.D. to its board of directors, effective immediately, the company said.

Dr. van Es-Johansson has extensive experience in the development of FDA- and EMA-approved orphan products and has held leadership roles across multiple disciplines of the life sciences industry, including clinical development, regulatory, and medical affairs.

Dr. van Es-Johansson, an expert in orphan drug development, is currently the chief medical officer for AlzeCure Pharma, a Swedish pharmaceutical company with a primary focus on Alzheimer's disease, where she is responsible for regulatory, clinical development, clinical operations, and pharmacovigilance.

For more than a decade prior to that, Dr. van Es-Johansson was at Sobi, an international rare disease company headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden. During her tenure at Sobi, she held a range of executive roles of increasing responsibility.

Dr. van Es-Johansson has leadership experience within large pharmaceutical and smaller biotechnology companies, including Roche, Eli Lilly, Active Biotech, and BioStratum.

Dr. van Es-Johansson received a M.D. from Erasmus University, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.

Savara is an orphan lung disease company. Savara's pipeline comprises Molgradex, an inhaled granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) in Phase 3 development for autoimmune pulmonary alveolar proteinosis, in Phase 2a development for nontuberculous mycobacterial lung infection in both non-cystic fibrosis and CF-affected individuals with chronic NTM lung infection; and AeroVanc, a Phase 3-stage inhaled vancomycin for treatment of persistent methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) lung infection in CF.

Savara's strategy involves expanding its pipeline of potentially best-in-class products through indication expansion, strategic development partnerships and product acquisitions, with the goal of becoming a company in its field.

Savara's management team has significant experience in orphan drug development and pulmonary medicine, identifying unmet needs, developing and acquiring new product candidates, and effectively advancing them to approvals and commercialisation.