Icosavax Appoints Elizabeth Bekiroğlu to General Counsel
SEATTLE, Sept. 10, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Icosavax, Inc. (NASDAQ:ICVX), a biopharmaceutical company leveraging its innovative virus-like particle (VLP) platform technology to develop vaccines against infectious diseases, today announced the appointment of Elizabeth Bekiroğlu to General Counsel.
"Elizabeth is an accomplished leader who has established an expertise in providing legal counsel to biotechnology and healthcare companies," said Adam Simpson, Chief Executive Officer of Icosavax. "I am thrilled to begin working alongside Elizabeth and look forward to her valuable insight as we work to progress our clinical candidates down the development pipeline and continue to grow the company."
Ms. Bekiroğlu brings more than 15 years of experience advising pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies on a broad range of legal matters. Prior to joining Icosavax, Ms. Bekiroğlu was Associate General Counsel at Seagen where she helped lead and build the legal affairs group as Seagen transformed into a multi-product, multinational company. Previously, she led the legal function at Oncothyreon where she handled a wide range of corporate, securities, clinical, manufacturing, licensing and transactional matters. Prior to Oncothyreon, Ms. Bekiroğlu served in roles of increasing responsibility at Emergent BioSolutions and Trubion Pharmaceuticals. Ms. Bekiroğlu began her legal career as a corporate associate at Fenwick & West LLP and Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP where she advised early stage and public biopharmaceutical companies. Ms. Bekiroğlu received her J.D. from Harvard Law School and a B.A. in Human Biology from Stanford University.
About Icosavax
Icosavax is a biopharmaceutical company leveraging its innovative VLP platform technology to develop vaccines against infectious diseases, with an initial focus on life-threatening respiratory diseases. Icosavax's VLP platform technology is designed to enable multivalent, particle-based display of complex viral antigens, which it believes will induce broad, robust, and durable protection against the specific viruses targeted. Icosavax's pipeline includes vaccine candidates targeting respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), human metapneumovirus (hMPV), and severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Icosavax was formed in 2017 to advance the breakthrough VLP technology from the Institute for Protein Design at the University of Washington with the goal to discover, develop, and commercialize vaccines against infectious diseases. Icosavax exclusively licensed the VLP technology for use in several fields, including RSV and hMPV, from the University of Washington. For SARS-CoV-2, Icosavax has a non-exclusive, worldwide (excluding South Korea) license from the University of Washington that will convert to an exclusive license in North America and Europe in 2025. Icosavax is located in Seattle.
Forward Looking Statements
Statements contained in this press release regarding matters that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements are based on our current beliefs and expectations and include, but are not limited to: our goal to progress our clinical candidates down the development pipeline and to continue to grow Icosavax, and the therapeutic potential of our VLP technology. Actual results may differ from those set forth in this press release due to the risks and uncertainties inherent in our business, including, without limitation: the early stage of our development efforts; our approach to the discovery and development of vaccine candidates, which is a novel and unproven approach; potential delays in the commencement, enrollment, and completion of clinical trials; and other risks described in our prior filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), including under the heading "Risk Factors" in our Registration Statement on Form S-1 and any subsequent filings with the SEC. You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof, and we undertake no obligation to update such statements to reflect events that occur or circumstances that exist after the date hereof. All forward-looking statements are qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement, which is made under the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.
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