Specialty vaccine company Valneva appoints new interim COO, acting CFO

Specialty vaccine company Valneva appointed Perry Celentano as its interim chief operating officer (COO).

Celentano will serve in the interim role to support the company’s expansion of the manufacturing sites in Livingston, U.K., and Solna, Sweden.

Perry will be based at Valneva’s Livingston site, where the primary production of its VLA2001 is taking place. The company also manufactures its JEV and chikungunya vaccines in Livingston.

He steps into the role vacated by David Lawrence, who was appointed to the position of acting chief financial officer (CFO) potentially until mid-2021. Lawrence will support strategic planning and the company’s COVID vaccine collaboration with the UK Government.

“Valneva is going from strength to strength, and it’s important that we continue to build our senior management team. I am delighted to welcome Perry on board; he is a really strong operations and manufacturing expert and leader,” Thomas Lingelbach, CEO at Valneva, said. “He will play a vital role in the execution of our manufacturing strategy for our planned COVID-19 vaccine. I’m also really pleased that David has agreed to continue helping Valneva and to work with me personally on our near-term objectives. He knows the Company and our investors very well, so will play a pivotal role in executing on our capital formation and growth strategies. These appointments also give the Company time to find the best permanent candidates as we go through an important stage of our evolution.”

Valneva is a specialty vaccine company focused on preventing diseases with major unmet needs. It has two commercial vaccines for travelers: Ixiaro/Jespect for the prevention of Japanese encephalitis and Dukoral for the prevention of cholera and, in some countries, prevention of diarrhea caused by ETEC. The company also has various vaccines in development, including unique vaccines against Lyme disease, chikungunya, and COVID-19.