Vector BioMed Appoints Jakob Reiser, Ph.D., as Senior Director of Regulatory Affairs

Lentiviral expert, Dr. Reiser joins Vector BioMed after serving as principal investigator at the FDA's Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER)

GAITHERSBURG, Md., April 11, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Vector BioMed, a biomanufacturing company specializing in the manufacture of lentiviral vectors, today announced the appointment of Jakob Reiser, Ph.D., to the position of Senior Director, Regulatory Affairs, as the Company expands its team to offer a best-in-class lentiviral vector platform to aid in the development of innovative gene therapies.  Dr. Reiser brings more than 45 years of scientific and regulatory experience to Vector BioMed including nearly 15 years as a principal investigator at the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER), part of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

"Dr. Reiser is a key addition to Vector BioMed's senior leadership team, bringing to the company a world-renowned scientist and leading expert in the field of lentiviral vector research and development," said Boro Dropulić, Ph.D., MBA, CEO of Vector Biomed. "During his impressive career, Dr. Reiser has been at the forefront of numerous scientific breakthroughs in lentiviral vector design, including the first HIV-1-based lentiviral vectors, and has been instrumental in the advance of regulatory policies at CBER that have served to accelerate lentiviral vector development for clinical use.  As Senior Director of Regulatory Affairs at Vector BioMed, Dr. Reiser will apply his expertise to support partners in their regulatory strategy and submissions in order to advance their clinical-stage programs."

Prior to joining Vector BioMed, Dr. Reiser spent nearly 15 years as a principal investigator at CBER where he led a laboratory focused on the safety and manufacture of lentiviral vectors. His regulatory work at CBER involved reviewing pre-IND, INTERACT, Investigational New Drug (IND), and Biologics License Applications (BLA) submissions, including multiple CAR T-cell BLAs. Dr. Reiser also engaged in informal consultations within the FDA and was involved in numerous regulatory policy activities.

Prior to CBER, Dr. Reiser served as Associate Professor of Medicine and Director, Gene Therapy Vector Core at the Louisiana State University (LSU) Health Sciences Center in New Orleans. At LSU he gained considerable experience applying lentiviral vectors in the context of in vitro, ex vivo, and in vivo applications.  Prior to LSU, Dr. Reiser worked at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) where he was among the pioneers to design HIV-1-based lentiviral vectors. 

"I am very excited to join Vector BioMed having spent a substantial part of my career at the forefront of lentiviral research and innovation," said Dr. Reiser. "The proliferation of novel cell and gene therapy products has placed a premium on the manufacture of high-quality lentiviral vectors and the availability of turnkey solutions for vector design and optimization, pre-clinical manufacturing, GMP manufacturing, and other support services.  I am eager to lend my experiences to Vector BioMed's partners and look forward to working with Boro, Mike, Andrew, and the highly talented leadership team that they have assembled."

Dr. Reiser joins a senior leadership team at Vector BioMed that includes the following seasoned executives:

• Mike Kadan, Ph.D., MBA, Chief Operating Officer
  Dr. Kadan brings more than 30 years of experience in the development and manufacturing of biologics. He started his biotech industry career in 1989 at Genetic Therapy Inc., a pioneer in the gene therapy sector. During Dr. Kadan's career, he has held leadership roles responsible for a wide range of functions including process development, manufacturing, and operations as well as capital projects for manufacturing facility design and build. Dr. Kadan previously led the implementation of GMP lentiviral vector production at Lentigen and the manufacture of hundreds of lentiviral vector batches destined for human clinical trials.

• Andrew Worden, Chief Technology Officer
  Mr. Worden, who has led process characterization for multiple products intended for commercialization, was previously director of process development at Lentigen Technology, a company that Dr. Dropulic founded that is now part of Miltenyi Biotec. Mr. Worden's extensive experience with multiple technologies to produce and purify lentiviral vectors includes overseeing analytics tied to improving how they are made. His past experience also includes improving methods tied to autologous T-cell manufacturing. 

Dr. Dropulic added, "I am delighted with the expert team that we have assembled at Vector BioMed, with many team members having extensive experience in lentiviral vector technology and manufacturing.  Such experience provides valuable support for our partners needing lentiviral vector design and manufacturing services. We have developed an efficient lentiviral vector manufacturing process that yields very high vector titer and quality.  Also, the pricing for our GMP lentiviral vectors is unbeatable, with turn-around-times that support rapid pre-clinical and clinical development."

About Vector BioMed
Vector BioMed is a state-of-the-art vector contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) specializing in best-in-class lentiviral vectors to increase efficiencies in clinical development and commercialization of cell and gene therapies. Vector BioMed's services include turn-key solutions for vector design, vector optimization, pre-clinical manufacturing, and GMP manufacturing to address the industry's current vector supply bottleneck by providing high-titer lentiviral vectors from bench to clinic to commercialization. Vector BioMed is the first company to be originated by Caring Cross, a 501(c)(3) non-profit dedicated to accelerating the development of advanced medicines and enabling access to cures for all patients. For more information on Vector BioMed visit https://vectorbiomed.com/.

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Investors 
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Media  
Bill Borden 
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Dave Schemelia 
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SOURCE Vector BioMed