Virion: Vanessa King and Isabel Najera
Virion Biotherapeutics announced the double appointment of its CEO and CSO positions, with Vanessa King (pictured left) and Isabel Najera (pictured right) taking the respective roles.
Both will be tasked with bringing through its therapeutic interfering particles (TIPs) that it aims to use to prevent viral replication. The biotech refers to this technology as ‘first-in-class biologicals’ that could be used for the prevention of infection and disease. In particular, the company will focus on respiratory virus infections.
“We are delighted to welcome Vanessa and Isabel, strong leaders with the skills and expertise to advance Virion and its pipeline for treating and preventing respiratory virus infections,” said Jeffrey Almond, chairman of Virion.
He continued, “Vanessa has a demonstrated track record of building, financing, and partnering successful biotech companies. Isabel has extensive expertise in the discovery and development of novel antiviral agents. We look forward to applying their knowledge and leadership to Virion’s objective to bring broad spectrum antiviral therapeutics to patients.”
King joins as CEO after a varied career that saw her work for Novartis, as head of scientific and strategic operations for three years, and at Amgen, where she performed the role of executive director of external R&D.
Najera brings with her a number of years’ experience of working for Roche in its virology unit, where she finished her time at the company as senior director, deputy head of discovery and infectious diseases.
