MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., June 18 /PRNewswire/ -- Aviron (Nasdaq: AVIR) today
announced Carolyn (Lyn) E. Christenson has been named director, corporate
communications. In her new role, Ms. Christenson will have responsibility for
leading the public relations and investor relations activities at Aviron.
Previously, Ms. Christenson was president of StratiPoint, a strategic
consulting firm which provided corporate communications and investor relations
services to healthcare companies including Nellcor Puritan Bennett, Geron and
Imagyn Medical. Prior to forming StratiPoint, she held senior communications
management positions in healthcare and high technology for more than 20 years.
She has built and managed communications departments at Syntex Corp. and
Scios, Inc., and has advised both multi-national and start-up healthcare
companies on communication issues at the international public relations firms
Hill and Knowlton and Burson-Marsteller.
Ms. Christenson received a Bachelor of Journalism degree in 1971 from the
University of Missouri, and an MBA in 1981 from Pepperdine University. She is
a founder of the Silicon Valley Chapter of the National Investor Relations
Institute and a past member of the Community Advisory Council at Lucille
Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford.
"We are very pleased to welcome Lyn Christenson to Aviron," said
Fred Kurland, Chief Financial Officer and Senior Vice President of Aviron.
"Lyn has been closely involved with communications issues critical to the
growth of many companies, ranging from product launches and mergers and
acquisitions to IPOs and crisis communications. Her extensive experience in
developing and implementing communications and investor relations programs for
healthcare companies will be a considerable asset as Aviron moves towards
commercialization of our first product, FluMist(TM) intranasal influenza
vaccine, and into the next important phase of our company's development."
Aviron is a biopharmaceutical company based in Mountain View, CA, whose
strategy is to focus on the prevention of disease. The company's goal is to
develop vaccines to prevent a wide range of infections that affect the general
population, providing a cost-effective means of addressing a number of major
diseases. The majority of Aviron's products under development are live
vaccines against viral infections, including influenza, parainfluenza (PIV-3),
cytomegalovirus (CMV), genital herpes (HSV-2) and respiratory syncytial virus
(RSV). Aviron is also developing -- in collaboration with SmithKline Beecham
Biologicals -- a subunit vaccine against Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV) infection, a
major cause of infectious mononucleosis.
This press release contains forward-looking statements. Actual results
may differ materially from those suggested here. Additional information
concerning factors that could cause such a difference is contained in Aviron's
Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 1997.
SOURCE Aviron
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Company News On-Call: http://www.prnewswire.com or
fax, 800-758-5804, ext. 114000
CONTACT:
media, John Bluth of Fleishman-Hillard,
212-453-2000, for Aviron, or investors, Fred Kurland or Lyn
Christenson, 650-919-6500, both of Aviron
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