Vir Biotechnology, Inc. announced that George Scangos, Ph.D., will retire from his position as Chief Executive Officer, effective April 3, 2023. The Company's Board of Directors has appointed industry veteran Marianne De Backer, MSc, Ph.D., MBA, currently Executive Vice President, Head of Pharmaceuticals Strategy, Business Development and Licensing/Open Innovation, and Member of the Executive Committee for Bayer Pharmaceuticals, as his successor, effective April 3, 2023. She will also join Vir's Board of Directors.

Upon his retirement as CEO, Dr. Scangos will serve in an advisory role to Dr. De Backer through June 2, 2023 and will continue providing strategic counsel to Vir as a member of the Board of Directors. Dr. De Backer brings to her new role more than two decades of broad international leadership experience, including a strong track record in global expansion, innovation technology licensing and multiple billion-dollar mergers and acquisitions. Throughout her career, she has been directly accountable for more than 200 strategic alliances in healthcare, many of which have led to approved medicines now available to patients.

Prior to joining Bayer, Dr. De Backer spent more than 20 years at the Johnson & Johnson family of companies, first as a scientist and scientific group leader, and later taking on roles of increasing responsibility and scope, including corporate development and international commercial positions. Dr. De Backer holds a Master in Molecular Biology from Vrije Universiteit Brussel, a Master in Engineering and Biochemistry, and a Ph.D. in Biotechnology from Ghent University, Belgium, and an MBA from Erasmus University, Rotterdam. She currently serves as a non-executive Director on the Boards of Directors of the Gladstone Foundation, Kronos Bio, Inc., Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals Inc., and serves on the Boards of Bayer companies: Asklepios BioPharmaceutical, Inc., Vividion Therapeutics, Inc. and BlueRock Therapeutics LP.