Aelix Therapeutics, a drug development company specialising in the discovery and development of immunotherapies against HIV infection, has appointed of Ian McGowan as Chief Medical Officer (CMO).
McGowan will continue to hold a part-time appointment as Professor of Medicine, Division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, where he leads a translational research programme focused on the development of novel antiretroviral agents for HIV prevention.
He previously served as a Principal Investigator of the Microbicide Trials Network (MTN), which focuses on developing topical products for the prevention of HIV infection. He currently leads MTN’s rectal microbicide programme, which is based at the University of Pittsburgh.
Earlier in his career, he gained in-depth knowledge about drug development, especially antiretroviral therapy, in both academia and commercial organisations.
McGowan also has extensive knowledge of regulatory issues related to drug development and previously served as Chair of the FDA Antiviral Drugs Advisory Committee.
He has worked as a consultant with several major organisations, such as the WHO and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). McGowan has authored more than 100 peer reviewed papers as well as books and book chapters.
McGowan is also journal reviewer at several major life science publications, including the Journal of Virology. He serves on the editorial board of the journal Sexually Transmitted Infections.
He has a DPhil in Immunology from Oxford University, an MD from the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine and is a fellow at the Royal College of Physicians.
Christian Brander, Chief Scientific Officer and Co-founder of Aelix Therapeutics said:
“We have been working with Ian as a consultant since 2016 and believe that his extensive knowledge in the antiviral field, especially in antiretroviral drug development, combined with his regulatory experience will help us further our research on the HTI immunogen.”
