Vir Biotechnology, Inc. announced the appointment of Jennifer Towne, Ph.D., as Executive Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer, effective November 6, 2023. Dr. Towne will be responsible for leading the Company?s research function from basic research through scale-up manufacturing and the introduction of drug candidates to clinical trials. She will report to Vir?s Chief Executive Officer Marianne De Backer, M.Sc., Ph.D., MBA, and will join the Company?s Executive Management Team.

Dr. Towne joins Vir from The Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson, where she spent nine years holding immunology research leadership roles of increasing responsibility within Research and Development. In her most recent role as Senior Vice President, Immunology Discovery and External Innovation, she was responsible for advancing disease understanding and development of innovative therapeutics across autoimmune and inflammatory diseases as well as for bringing the most promising early innovation into Janssen to support the immunology portfolio. Prior to Janssen, Dr. Towne held a variety of scientific roles during her 13 years at Amgen.

During the course of her career, Dr. Towne led the development of 16 drug candidates from preclinical research to IND and clinical development. Dr. Towne earned her Ph.D. from the Department of Molecular Genetics, Biochemistry, and Microbiology at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine in Cincinnati, Ohio. She also holds a bachelor?s in biochemistry and a bachelor?s in biology from the Department of Chemistry and Department of Biology at Whitworth University in Spokane, WA.