GOLDEN, Colo.– PharmaJet®, a company that strives to improve the performance and outcomes of injectables with its enabling technology, today announced that Wouter Latour, M.D., has joined the company as Chief Executive Officer (CEO). Latour also joins the PharmaJet board of directors. He succeeds Chris Cappello who has recently been elected Vice-Chairman of the Board and will remain active in the business, largely focused on strategic partners and supporting engineering/operations.
Dr. Latour brings more than 30 years of industry experience to PharmaJet, most recently as CEO, President and Director, and Chairman of the Board at Vaxart, Inc., a clinical stage biotechnology company developing oral recombinant vaccines based on its proprietary oral vaccine delivery platform. At Vaxart, he took the company public, and advanced a pipeline of oral vaccine candidates targeting COVID 19, flu, norovirus, RSV and HPV. Previous roles included CEO and Director at Trinity Biosystems, Global Strategy and Business Development executive positions at Novartis Pharma and SmithKline Beecham Biologicals (now GSK Vaccines), and as a strategic advisor for several mid-size vaccine companies. Dr. Latour holds Doctor of Medicine and Bachelor’s degrees from the University of Amsterdam and a Master of Business Administration from Stanford University.
“I am pleased to welcome Dr. Latour to PharmaJet and want to express my sincere confidence in him as he assumes the leadership of the Company,” said Gordon Clancy, Chairman of PharmaJet’s Board of Directors. “He is a proven biotechnology leader with a distinguished track record. The Board is confident that Wouter, together with the rest of the leadership team, will ensure strong execution of PharmaJet’s strategy to take advantage of the significant opportunities ahead. I also want to thank Chris Cappello for his invaluable contributions and agreement to continue his significant involvement with PharmaJet.”
“This is an exciting time for PharmaJet with tremendous prospects for growth and value creation,” commented Dr. Latour. “PharmaJet’s needle-free delivery system has demonstrated enhanced effectiveness of nucleic acid vaccines and immunotherapies in numerous clinical and preclinical studies, while being a highly consistent and convenient method of delivery. The company has provided over ten million syringes for large polio eradication campaigns across the globe, but there are many other important therapeutic and vaccine applications where the technology can be applied. The recently announced strategic partnership with Scancell to develop a DNA vaccine for advanced melanoma using the PharmaJet delivery system is an excellent example. PharmaJet is poised to redefine the field of vaccine and therapeutics delivery, and I am looking forward to joining them on their journey.”
