Iliad Biotechnology has announced the appointment of Cheryl Keech as Chief Medical Officer and Executive VP of Clinical Research; she will be responsible for clinical studies of the company’s pipeline products, including the BPZE1 live attenuated intranasal pertussis vaccine. The company said that a Phase 2b trial of BPZE1 has completed enrollment.
Keech was most recently Executive Medical Director of Vaccine Research and Development at PPD and was previously Global Clinical/Regulatory Director for Access and Delivery at PATH, a global nonprofit health organization. Her other prior positions include Medical Director of Vaccines at GSK and as a Medical Affairs Lead at Eli Lilly.
Iliad CEO Keith Rubin said, “As ILiAD advances its lead BPZE1 clinical program through and beyond Phase 2b, we felt it was important to bring on board an experienced and accomplished industry veteran. Dr. Keech brings more than 25 years of experience as a clinician, research scientist, and medical director for both Pharma and contract research organizations (CRO) with extensive experience in infectious disease vaccines. During her previous position at CRO PPD, Cheryl played a pivotal role in advising ILiAD, designing the on-going Phase 2b BPZE1 study, and formulating our overall clinical strategy. We are extremely fortunate to have her now join ILiAD’s executive team.”
Keech commented, “BPZE1 has the potential to improve the control of pertussis significantly over current vaccines by targeting pertussis transmission dynamics in addition to producing systemic antibody responses. BPZE1 is the only next generation pertussis vaccine in Phase 2 US clinical trials, with results expected in early 2020. I’m thrilled to join ILiAD in their mission to improve global health through advanced vaccine solutions.”
Read the Iliad Biotechnologies press release.
