Louis Fries III, M.D., has been appointed vice president, clinical and medical affairs, and Jane Halpern, Ph.D., has been appointed vice president of regulatory affairs at Novavax, Inc.

Prior to joining the company, Dr. Fries was director of global clinical development at GSK Biologicals, North America. Previously, he was vice president, clinical and medical affairs at ID Biomedical Corp. (acquired by GSK in 2005) and senior director of clinical research at NABI.

Dr. Halpern previously served as a staff scientist and regulatory affairs specialist at the Vaccine Research Center of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease (NIAID), National Institutes of Health. Dr. Halpern also held positions in regulatory affairs at Genocea Biosciences, GSK Biologicals, and ID Biomedical.

“We are excited to welcome these two highly talented senior executives to our company,” said Gregory Glenn, M.D., Novavax’s senior vice president and chief medical officer. ”Each brings extensive experience in the development, clinical testing and registration of influenza and novel vaccines and more than two decades of industry and government experience. Their appointments are timely as we turn our attention to late-stage clinical development and commercialization of our virus-like-particle vaccines to prevent the spread of seasonal and pandemic influenza.”