3 May 2018 - - South San Francisco, California-based clinical-stage biotechnology company Vaxart, Inc. has appointed David Taylor, M.D. as chief medical officer (CMO), the company said.
Taylor has over 35 years of experience in medical research, drug and vaccine development, and clinical trial management for government organizations, non-profits, academia, and both private and public healthcare companies.
Prior to joining Vaxart, Taylor served as a senior medical officer of the drug and vaccine development global programs at PATH, where he developed clinical trial designs and executed studies for seasonal and universal flu vaccines and enteric vaccines.
Earlier, he was senior medical director of vaccines at Takeda Vaccines, developing clinical trial plans for norovirus and dengue vaccines.
Previously, Taylor served as CMO at VaxInnate Corp., where he focused on the development of recombinant vaccines for influenza and other infectious diseases, and CMO and vice president of medical and safety at Salix Pharmaceuticals, where he developed Rifaximin (Xifaxan) for the treatment of traveller's diarrhea and headed medical affairs and pharmacovigilance.
Before Salix, he was a research professor for the Department of International Health at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Taylor began his career as an epidemic intelligence service officer at the CDC and served 22 years in various capacities at research institutes in the US Army.
Taylor earned his MSc. in Medical Parasitology from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, M.D. from Harvard Medical School, D.M.S. from Dartmouth Medical School and B.S. in Biology from Kenyon College.
Vaxart is focused on developing oral recombinant protein vaccines based on its proprietary oral vaccine platform.
The company's oral vaccines are designed to generate broad and durable immune responses that protect against a wide range of infectious diseases and may be useful for the treatment of chronic viral infections and cancer.
Its development programs include oral tablet vaccines designed to protect against norovirus, seasonal influenza and respiratory syncytial virus, as well as a therapeutic vaccine for human papillomavirus.