NovaDigm Therapeutics’ Chief Executive Officer, Timothy Cooke, Appointed to the National Vaccine Advisory Committee

Print 03 November 2015

GRAND FORKS, N.D.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--NovaDigm Therapeutics, a company developing innovative vaccines for fungal and bacterial infections, today announced that Timothy Cooke, Ph.D., NovaDigm’s Chief Executive Officer, has been appointed to a four-year term on the National Vaccine Advisory Committee (NVAC) by Karen B. DeSalvo, M.D., MPH, MSc, Acting Assistant Secretary for Health at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Established in 1987, the NVAC recommends ways to achieve optimal prevention of human infectious diseases through vaccine development, and provides direction to prevent adverse reactions to vaccines. This advice is presented to the Assistant Secretary for Health who serves as the Director of National Vaccine Program on matters related to program responsibilities. Dr. Cooke serves as one of two Representative Members from the vaccine industry on the 17-person committee. These individuals represent the viewpoints or perspectives of the vaccine manufacturing industry and earlier-stage biotechnology companies involved in vaccine development.

Dr. Cooke joined NovaDigm Therapeutics as Chief Executive Officer in 2009. He was previously Chief Operating Officer of AVANT Immunotherapeutics, which developed enteric vaccines against cholera, typhoid fever and enterotoxigenicEscherichia coli. Prior to that, he was CEO at Mojave Therapeutics, which developed therapeutic vaccines against chronic viral infections and cancer. Dr. Cooke entered the vaccine industry in 1991 when he joined the newly-created Merck Vaccines business unit and had domestic and international commercial responsibilities over the next nine years. He was a founding member of Sanofi Pasteur-MSD, a European joint venture for vaccine development and commercialization, and led the formation of Merck’s vaccine business in Central and Eastern Europe.

Dr. Cooke has significant experience in domestic and global vaccine policy, currently serving as Co-Chair of the Vaccine Policy Advisory Committee of the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) and as a member of BIO’s Antimicrobial Resistance Working Group. He was the vaccine industry representative to the Working Group of the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI) during its formation in 2000.

He has a bachelor’s degree from Saint Joseph’s University, and a Ph.D. in bio-organic chemistry and an M.B.A. from Columbia University.

About NovaDigm

NovaDigm is developing innovative vaccines to protect patients from fungal and bacterial infections, which can be recurrent, drug-resistant and in some cases, life-threatening. The Company’s founding scientists from the Los Angeles BioMedical Research Institute at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center (LA BioMed) are recognized leaders in the field of infectious disease and the emerging threat of “superbugs”. Their work has been largely funded by the National Institutes of Health National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIH NIAID). NovaDigm’s lead product candidates target Candida, a fungal pathogen, andStaphylococcus aureus, including MRSA. Based in North Dakota with additional research activities at LA BioMed, NovaDigm has received funding from Domain Associates, a leading U.S. health care venture capital firm and RusnanoMedInvest (RMI), a Russian venture capital firm. The company also collaborates with multiple government agencies.

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