TÜBINGEN, Germany / BOSTON, USA – February 26, 2020

CureVac AG, a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company pioneering the field of mRNA-based drugs, has appointed Alan Kimura MD, PhD as head of the newly created department “Rare Diseases”. Within this department, Curevac unites the therapeutic areas “Molecular Therapies” and “Eye and Lung”. This reorganization will synergize and strengthen CureVac’s activities across these therapeutic fields. In his new role, Dr. Kimura will report to Dr. Bernd Winterhalter, Interim Chief Development Officer (CDO) of CureVac.

With his extensive expertise, he will provide important leadership and direction in the development of our mRNA-based product candidates for the treatment of rare diseases. In doing so, he will actively support our goal of saving patients’ lives with our unique mRNA platform technology.

Daniel Menichella

“We are very excited to welcome Alan to CureVac. With him, we gained a highly competent and internationally experienced leader for our newly created therapeutic area Rare Diseases”, says Daniel Menichella, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of CureVac, “With his extensive expertise, he will provide important leadership and direction in the development of our mRNA-based product candidates for the treatment of rare diseases. In doing so, he will actively support our goal of saving patients’ lives with our unique mRNA platform technology.”

“As a pioneer, CureVac has long been a leading company in developing and optimizing mRNA-based drugs and is now focused on discovering the potential of mRNA to treat a broad group of diseases. For me, it is a great honor to be a part of CureVac on its path towards the development and approval of mRNA-based products that will impact patients’ lives,” says Alan Kimura.

Dr. Kimura has more than 30 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry, including five years in research and more than 25 years in global clinical development. During this time, he was responsible for the clinical development of product candidates in phases 1 to 3, medical and regulatory affairs, as well as product lifecycle management.

Prior to joining CureVac, he served as Chief Medical Officer at Enzyvant and SutroVax, and Vice President, Clinical Development at Translate Bio. Dr. Kimura has also held senior clinical development, research, and medical affairs roles at Shire, Novartis, Altus, Transkaryotic Therapies, SmithKline Beecham, and Wyeth. He has authored more than 30 research papers and book chapters.