SutroVax Announces Appointment of Paul Sauer as Vice President, Process Development & Manufacturing

SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., May 3, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- SutroVax, a biopharmaceutical company dedicated to the delivery of best-in-class conjugate vaccines and novel complex antigen-based vaccines to prevent deadly infectious diseases, today announced the appointment of Paul Sauer as Vice President, Process Development & Manufacturing. 

Mr. Sauer has over 30 years of experience industrializing biologics for numerous biotechnology companies. Prior to joining SutroVax, Mr. Sauer was Vice President of Process Sciences & Manufacturing at Igenica Biotherapeutics, where he initiated the company's development activities and built its supply chain network for GMP manufacturing of its antibody drug conjugates. Prior to that, he was Senior Director of Process Development at OncoMed Pharmaceuticals, where he contributed to multiple IND filings.  He also held various process, engineering, scale-up, and manufacturing positions at Protein Design Labs, Scios, and Genentech.  Mr. Sauer has contributed to numerous approved biologics, including Genentech's Activase® and Pulmozyme®. He also contributed significantly to the development of the patented high-yield process that formed the basis for production of Biogen's Zinbryta™, a humanized antibody whose BLA is currently under FDA review for the treatment of Multiple Sclerosis.

"Paul's appointment will expedite advancement of our lead conjugate vaccine program as it progresses to clinical development.  His leadership and germane development and scale-up experience will be key additions to our team's skill set as we solidify our supply chain and proceed to GMP manufacturing," said Grant Pickering, Chief Executive Officer of SutroVax.

Conjugate vaccines comprise the largest segment of the vaccine industry, with annual sales of over $10 billion across multiple licensed indications, including pneumococcus, meningitis, and H flu.  The largest of these indications is the pneumococcus market, with an annual sales rate of over $7 billion. Despite the successes to date, there are not only a significant number of additional bacterial strains that have yet to be incorporated into current conjugate vaccines, but also many infectious diseases that have yet to be addressed using this potent modality.

"It is unusual for a company at this stage to have access to a mature, industrialized and proprietary platform like Xpress CF™ to leverage for advancement of its development programs. I am pleased to join the SutroVax team as the lead vaccine's production processes are defined for GMP production," commented Mr. Sauer.

About Xpress CF

The Xpress CF platform allows for efficient conjugation of antigens to precise positions on carrier proteins via the incorporation of multiple non-natural amino acid (nnAA) substitutions to permit click chemistry attachment. This precise and robust technique results in homogeneous and consistent vaccines that promise to confer important immunological and clinical benefits relative to current conjugate vaccines. Pinpointing the placement of the antigen on the carrier has the potential to improve host immune responses by avoiding the discrete sites on the carrier responsible for T-cell help, which are often impinged by current conjugation methods. Furthermore, the precise optimization of antigen positioning on the carrier protein allows the attachment of multiple antigenic constructs to a single protein carrier, which will facilitate the production of broader spectrum vaccines. These improvements have the potential to deliver best-in-class conjugate vaccines that will have the potential to confer heightened immunity, broader protection and can be both more easily characterized and consistently produced as a result of our high-yield, streamlined and industrialized production process.

About SutroVax

SutroVax is an independent vaccine platform and development company whose mission is to deliver best-in-class conjugate vaccines and novel complex antigen-based vaccines to prevent deadly infectious diseases. The company is leveraging its exclusive license to Sutro Biopharma's Xpress CF platforms to perform cell-free protein synthesis and site-specific conjugation for the field of vaccines. SutroVax closed its Series A round in 2015 and is financed by an international syndicate of experienced, blue-chip venture capital and corporate venture investors. For more information, visit www.sutrovax.com.

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SOURCE SutroVax

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