VerImmune Inc. is elevating its leadership team with the appointment of Sender Aspelund, Ph.D. as the Head of CMC (Chemistry, Manufacturing, and Controls). Prior to joining VerImmune, Dr. Aspelund held CMC leadership roles at Novavax and AstraZeneca, bringing over 15 years of biopharmaceutical experience in biologics and vaccine development—particularly in process development, GMP production, and CMC strategies. She has led cross-functional teams through multiple stages of product development, from early-stage process design to tech transfer and clinical manufacturing. Dr. Aspelund’s extensive expertise spans upstream, downstream, and formulation development, where she has successfully guided tech transfer activities that accelerated clinical product production. She also has hands-on experience in managing CMOs to ensure seamless tech transfer, PPQ, and facility fit at both domestic and international sites. In addition, she has overseen critical CDMO partnerships, including contract negotiations, governance structure setup, and managing deliverables across cost, quality, and timelines.
Headquartered in Maryland, with operations in Washington DC,USA and Singapore, VerImmune is a biotechnology company pioneering a Virus-inspired Particle (ViP™) platform designed to deliver a variety of therapeutic payloads across multiple disease areas, making it highly adaptable for Oncology, Autoimmunity, and even Animal health applications. VerImmune’s lead product candidate, VERI-101, is a novel first-in-class cancer therapy that uses the ViP™ platform to harness cellular immune memory from prior cytomegalovirus (CMV) infections, thereby destroying tumors and fighting cancer.
As Head of CMC at VerImmune, Dr. Aspelund will be responsible for leading CMC strategies to develop, manufacture, and bring novel ViP-based therapeutics to a clinic. She will leverage her extensive experience to ensure smooth transitions from current pre-clinical/IND-enabling to clinical stages. She will also strategically incorporate regulatory requirements for clinical and commercial phases during pre-clinical development, ensuring efficient ‘Clinic-ready’ advancement of VerImmune’s programs such as VERI-101.
“I am thrilled to welcome Dr. Aspelund as Head of CMC at VerImmune”, said Joshua Wang, Founder & CEO at VerImmune Inc. “Her proven track record and deep expertise will be instrumental as VerImmune advances our ViP™ technology platform and lead candidate VERI-101 into the clinic, ultimately accelerating our overall mission of fighting cancer and other diseases”.
About VerImmune
VerImmune Inc (www.verimmune.com) is developing a highly innovative Virus-inspired Particle (ViP™) platform technology that has the potential to treat multiple diseases. VerImmune’s primary focus lies in the field of Oncology, wherein the ViP technology enables a pioneering first-in-class cancer immunotherapy approach known as Anti-tumor Immune Redirection (AIR). This innovative method harnesses the body’s pre-existing immune system, specifically by leveraging the immune memory from past infections or childhood vaccinations to combat cancer. By taking a highly orthogonal approach, VerImmune’s technology holds immense potential to revolutionize the Immuno-Oncology market, offering new treatment possibilities for patients facing limited options or resistance to current cancer therapies. Beyond Oncology, VerImmune is looking into other areas of high unmet needs via the utilization of ViPs with novel properties and/or payloads that exert highly disruptive mechanisms of action.
