HpVac Appoints Joana Vitte, MD, PhD, as Chief Scientific Officer

– Significant expansion of allergy research expertise

Geneva, Switzerland, November 23, 2022 – HpVac SA, a company developing novel preventive and therapeutic first-line therapies against allergic and inflammatory diseases, today announced that Joana Vitte, MD, PhD, Habil. will be joining HpVac as Chief Scientific Officer.

Joana Vitte is an experienced scientist with a strong track record in allergy diagnostics and clinical research. She brings significant knowledge in human immunology, flow cytometry, and allergy testing. Among others, her work focuses on the interplay of allergic and anti-infectious immune responses. Joana Vitte has a joint position as Associate Professor of Immunology at Aix-Marseille University and the University Hospital of Marseille and is also Associate Researcher at the Institut d’Épidémiologie et de Santé Publique (IDESP) of the University of Montpellier. She is also Vice President for science and education at the French Society of Allergology.

“We warmly welcome Joana Vitte as our new Chief Scientific Officer,” said Dr. Jeffrey Shaw, CEO of HpVac. “Her research expertise in allergology and immunology will be very valuable for further strengthening our pipeline and for progressing our lead compound HpVac-R13 into clinical development.”

“I very much look forward to working with the team at HpVac,” said Joana Vitte. “I am convinced that the Company has discovered a key component of microbiome-based immune modulation that plays a central role in the development of allergic diseases. I am therefore excited to help advance this novel therapeutic approach through preclinical and clinical stages.”

HpVac´s therapeutic concept is based on the observation that certain components of the human gut microbiome confer protection against various diseases. The Company´s lead compound HpVac-R13 is a molecule harnessing the beneficial potential of some microbial species. The compound is a patented, recombinant version of a naturally occurring immunomodulatory protein and is associated with strong epidemiological evidence of protecting humans against asthma and other allergic diseases.

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About HpVac SA

HpVac, a privately owned company founded in 2016, is focused on the development of novel microbiome-based therapeutics. Its lead compound HpVac-13 is designed as a preventive and therapeutic first-line therapy against asthma, eczema, food allergies and related allergic diseases, as well as inflammatory bowel conditions such as Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. The Company is based in Geneva, Switzerland.

Contacts
GBC-HpVac SA
Dr. Jeffrey Shaw, CEO
Campus Biotech – Innovation Center
15, Avenue de Sécheron
CH-1202 Geneva, Switzerland
[email protected]
Tel. +41 22 794 40 20
Tel. +41 78 664 55 83

Media Inquiries
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Dr. Ludger Wess / Ines-Regina Buth
Managing Partners    
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Tel. +49 30 23 63 27 68