Pressmeddelande -
Susanne Ellfors-Zetterlund new Chief Medical Officer (CMO) at Scandinavian Biopharma
We welcome paediatrician and general practitioner Susanne Ellfors Zetterlund as our new Chief Medical Officer. Throughout Susanne's professional life preventing disease before it occurs, has been the common thread. Susanne most recently came from a position as CMO at Werlabs, where they prevent lifestyle-related diseases through regular health checks. Prior to that, she worked as Medical Manager at Novo Nordisk with a focus on type 2 diabetes and as a medical advisor for GSK's vaccine portfolio. Vaccines were also a central part of Susanne's job as a school chief physician and child health chief physician at Region Skåne.
- I have always been passionate about prevention. To actively prevent disease from occurring in a healthy individual or to prevent a condition from getting worse. Everyone benefits from preventive work, both the individual, the healthcare system and society at large. Vaccination is one of the most effective medical measures to prevent disease. It pains me to see that millions of children still die every year due to diarrhoeal diseases that can be prevented with vaccines. In my role as CMO at Scandinavian Biopharma, I hope to be able to contribute to the development of an ETEC vaccine that can meet this great medical need. We can really make a difference, especially for children under five in low- and middle-income countries who do not enjoy the same privileged conditions that we do, says Susanne Ellfors-Zetterlund
- I am very pleased to welcome Susanne to Scandinavian Biopharma. Her long experience from both the pharmaceutical and healthcare industries suit us perfectly. Her expertise will come in handy during the final testing and later during the expected launch of our diarrhoea vaccine ETVAX®. Susanne will also support our distribution business, says Björn Sjöstrand, CEO of Scandinavian Biopharma.
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About Scandinavian Biopharma
Scandinavian Biopharma is a research-based specialty biopharma company determined to give people all over the world a longer and better life. Together with researchers at the University of Gothenburg and the international non-profit organization PATH, Scandinavian Biopharma is developing the first vaccine against ETEC which causes diarrhoea in both travellers and endemic populations.
The development project is mainly funded by the EDCTP programme, which is supported under Horizon 2020, the European Union’s (EU) Framework Programme for Research and Innovation, as well as by PATH and the U.S. Army (USAMRAA).
Scandinavian Biopharma also acts as a distributor for a wide range of specialty biopharma products in Europe with a focus on vaccines and immunoglobulins.
About ETEC
Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli, or ETEC, is a major cause of bacterial diarrhoeal disease. ETEC infections are particularly common in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC). In children younger than 5 years, it has been estimated that 1.7 billion episodes of diarrhoea occur annually. ETEC represents a major cause of these episodes and accounts for approximately 400 000 deaths among children living in LMICs. In addition, diarrhoea is associated with an increased risk of stunting (i.e. impaired growth and development). Stunting affects cognitive development which might determine a child’s ability to learn, their educational attainment, and future earnings and it also puts children at risk due to other severe infectious diseases.
ETEC is also the leading cause of travellers’ diarrhoea, affecting more than 35 million travellers every year.
About ETVAX®
To date, no vaccine against ETEC exists and ETVAX® is the only ETEC vaccine candidate in late-stage development. The strong immunogenicity and safety data, as well as the promising field efficacy data, clearly distinguish ETVAX® as the lead vaccine candidate against ETEC. Successful development of this vaccine will address a huge unmet medical need for children in LMICs as well as for travellers.
