HIV Vaccine Researcher Emilio Emini Leaves IAVI for Wyeth

Vaccine researcher Emilio Emini is leaving his position as senior vice president for vaccine development at the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative to head vaccine research and development at the pharmaceutical company Wyeth, the Wall Street Journal reports (Hensley, Wall Street Journal, 11/2). "I wanted to get back to working on multiple biological vaccines, and Wyeth offered me a great opportunity to do that," Emini said, adding, "My one specialty is HIV vaccines. Wyeth has a significant HIV program and a significant set of programs related to various bacterial diseases" (Loyd, Philadelphia Inquirer, 11/3). Emini is scheduled to start next week at Wyeth, where he will oversee 600 technicians and scientists. He said, "There was nothing that caused me to leave (IAVI) other than the opportunity to go to Wyeth," adding, "During my 18 months at IAVI, I enjoyed myself tremendously and I learned a lot" (Wall Street Journal, 11/2). Before going to IAVI, Emini worked for 20 years at Merck, where he helped lead five HIV vaccine candidates into human clinical trials and worked on developing the antiretroviral drug Crixivan (Philadelphia Inquirer, 11/3). He also has edited a book about HIV treatment and research, authored more than 180 articles in scientific journals and other medical publications and holds several U.S. and international patents (Wyeth release, 11/2).