VaxGen

VaxGen Inc., founded in 1995, is a "biopharmaceutical company focused on the development, manufacture and commercialization of biologic products for the prevention and treatment of human infectious disease. Based in the San Francisco Bay area, VaxGen is currently developing next-generation vaccines against anthrax and smallpox and a vaccine against Meningitis B. The company was selected by the U.S. government to provide 75 million doses of a recombinant anthrax vaccine for civilian biodefense." 

Profiles
"VaxGen is determined to save the world from a killer. After its HIV preventative vaccine AIDSVAX failed to meet expectations in late-stage clinical trials, the company shifted its focus to developing vaccines for bioterrorism threats. The company is the first big winner of the Project BioShield Act of 2004: It won a contract worth nearly $880 million to produce 75 million doses of anthrax vaccine for the US government's civilian vaccine stockpile. VaxGen and Japan's Chemo-Sero-Therapeutic Research Institute (Kaketsuken) are developing a safer smallpox vaccine. The candidate uses an attenuated live smallpox virus to provoke the body's immune response and has already been administered on a limited basis in Japan." --Fact Sheet, Hoover's.

Board of Directors

 * Lance K. Gordon, Ph.D., Inside Director, Chief Executive Officer
 * Randall L-W. Caudill, D. Phil., Director, Chairman of the Board
 * Franklin M. Berger, CFA, Director
 * Michel GrÃ©co, Director
 * Myron M. Levine, M.D., Director
 * Kevin Reilly, Director
 * Eve Slater, M.D., F.A.C.C., Director

Connectedness
In June 2005, "Forbes "exposed the ties between" Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) advisor, Phillip Russell, "the former chief of Army medical research. Russell sits on the board of the Albert B. Sabin Vaccine Institute with VaxGen CEO, Lance Gordon. Both Gordon and Russell denied that their relationship had any impact on the award of the contract." --Transparent Grid, October 14, 2005.

In July 2005, "VaxGen named Dr. Eve Slater to its board of directors. Dr. Slater was apponted by President Bush as an Assistant Secretary at HHS and Tommy Thompsonâ??s chief health policy advisor. Before joining HHS, Slater was a senior vice president at Merck and Bush had considered naming her as FDA Commissioner before he named her to the HHS. She resigned in 2003." --Transparent Grid, October 14, 2005.

Contact details
349 Oyster Point Boulevard South San Francisco, CA 94080 Phone: (650) 624-2400 Fax: 650-624-1001 Web: http://www.vaxgen.com

SourceWatch resources

 * pharmaceutical industry
 * Project BioShield