Vaxcyte Hires Pharma Veterans Ahead of Key Vaccine Trial Results
On September 3, Vaxcyte (NASDAQ:PCVX) announced the hiring of two senior executives and moved up its expected timeline for Phase 3 trial results. The company now anticipates topline data from the OPUS-1 adult trial by October's end instead of a fourth-quarter window. This update is significant as it marks Vaxcyte’s most critical milestone, given that it has no approved products yet. The new hires include Luis Jodar, Ph.D., former Chief Medical Officer at Pfizer and involved in major vaccine development projects like Prevnar 13/20, Abrysvo, Comirnaty, and Paxlovid. David McAvoy joins as Chief Legal Officer from Teva Pharmaceutical with experience guiding companies through Biologics License Applications (BLAs). These appointments signal Vaxcyte’s readiness to pursue regulatory approval for its pneumococcal vaccine candidate, VAX-31. The OPUS-1 trial involved 4,049 participants and is a head-to-head comparison against Prevnar 20 from Pfizer and Capvaxive from Merck. The company has $2.5 billion in cash as of June 30, 2026, sufficient to fund the BLA submission without additional fundraising.
