Valneva expands management board

Commercial stage biotech Valneva has appointed David Lawrence and Wolfgang Bender, a move that will strengthen the senior management team for future growth.

Lawrence joins the group as the chief financial officer, bringing over 25 years’ experience in the pharmaceutical, biotech and vaccine industries with knowledge in mid-sized to large companies and small biotech start-ups.

He has held many roles in the industry, most notably as chief executive officer for Acambis - acquired by Sanofi in 2008 - and vice president of finance and business development for Chiron Vaccines, a division of Chiron Corporation, which was acquired by Novartis in 2005.

Prior to these roles, he held senior finance positions at GlaxoSmithKline including vice president of financial management in research and development.

Dr Bender also joins the biotech as its chief medical officer, bringing over 30 years’ experience in scientific-medical affairs, R&D and general management of vaccines and pharmaceuticals.

He has held a variety of positions working for Novartis Vaccines, Takeda Vaccines and Pfizer.

Frederic Grimaud, chairman of the supervisory board and Thomas Lingelback, chief executive officer, said: “We are pleased that we have been able to strengthen the management board with the addition of well recognised leaders in their field.

“We are convinced that we have an excellent, experienced and international management team to support the company’s further development into its next growth phase according to our strategic vision.”