Altimmune has expanded its clinical development team. Sybil Tasker was appointed senior vice president, clinical research and development. Dr. Tasker will be responsible for overseeing Altimmune’s clinical research and development programs. In addition, Efe Egharevba was named head of clinical project management. He will be responsible for overseeing the ongoing Phase 1 trial of HepTcell in the treatment of chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients.

“We are excited to welcome Dr. Tasker and Mr. Egharevba to our team. Dr. Tasker has an impressive background in global clinical development through Phase 3 and post-marketing studies including vaccines and antivirals,” said Bill Enright, president and chief executive officer, Altimmune. “She is well positioned to be a key member of the development efforts of the three clinical programs Altimmune expects to run over the course of 2016. Dr. Tasker will play a key role as we move our NasoVAX influenza vaccine candidate into a Phase II trial later this year, begin enrollment of our planned Phase I trial for our NasoShield anthrax vaccine candidate, and manage enrollment of our ongoing Phase I trial of HepTcell for the treatment of Chronic Hepatitis B.”

Dr. Tasker joins Altimmune from Genocea Biosceiences, where she was a senior director of clinical development and led the GEN-003 therapeutic vaccine program.

Mr. Egharevba has 12 years of clinical trial experience in a variety of disease indications including oncology, cardiovascular disease and rheumatology. He joins Altimmune from Takeda, and has held prior positions at Roche, Amgen, and Genmab.