Harwell Campus based Vaccitech, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company engaged in the discovery and development of novel immunotherapeutics and vaccines for the treatment and prevention of infectious diseases, autoimmunity and cancer, today announced the appointment of Nadège Pelletier, Ph.D., as Chief Scientific Officer (CSO).

“We are pleased to welcome Dr. Pelletier to Vaccitech at the start of 2023, a year in which we anticipate several important clinical milestones,” said Chief Executive Officer, Bill Enright. “Dr. Pelletier’s wealth of experience in drug discovery and development, as well as her ability to establish and maintain lasting collaborations within the industry, will propel the advancement of our growing pipeline and support our mission to deliver first-in-class therapies for devastating diseases that pose significant public health risks.”

Dr. Pelletier is stepping into the role formerly held by Tom Evans, Ph.D., who is retiring but will remain involved as a scientific consultant to the company.

“For the past six years, Tom has been integral in elevating Vaccitech’s profile and pipeline to serve a global patient community. We extend our tremendous gratitude for his leadership, passion, and drive,” added Mr. Enright. “While he is stepping back as CSO, he will continue to advise on our scientific efforts.”

Dr. Pelletier will lead Vaccitech’s scientific teams in all phases of drug discovery and platform development, as well as build and oversee the strategic technical direction of the company.

Dr. Pelletier brings extensive experience to Vaccitech in the areas of immunology, inflammation and infectious diseases. She joins Vaccitech from the Novartis Institutes for Biomedical Research and prior to that Roche Pharma Research & Early Development, where she served as Project Leader in the fields of autoimmunity, inflammation and infectious diseases. At Novartis, Dr. Pelletier was a discovery leader in a fast-track, multi-indication early clinical program on tolerance induction, and was responsible for maintaining accountability in building solid preclinical packages, biomarker strategies, and translational plans for disease focus and indication expansion. Prior to her role at Novartis, Dr. Pelletier was responsible for several preclinical and clinical projects in all phases of development to restore immune balance in autoimmunity and chronic infectious diseases, and was a key contributor to advancing immune modulation strategies for chronic Hepatitis B and respiratory infections.

“It’s an exciting time to be joining Vaccitech,” said Dr. Pelletier. “I look forward to supporting the work underway and generating new strategies that will help the company achieve its goal of advancing a deep clinical-stage pipeline of therapies for life-threatening diseases that currently have limited treatment options, where its T cell therapeutic candidates are ideally suited for restoring effective, balanced, antigen-targeted immune responses.”

In addition to her experience with Novartis and Roche, Dr. Pelletier also served as a Senior Scientist at Merck-Serono in Geneva, Switzerland, and as a postdoctoral fellow at the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California.

Dr. Pelletier holds a Ph.D. in immunology from Claude Bernard University, ENS-Lyon, in Lyon, France and a Master of Science in Genetics and Immunology from ENS-Lyon.