Tamir Pardo, a former head of the Mossad, has joined the board of directors of NeuroRX (NRX), the company charged with bringing Israel’s BriLife vaccine to market.
“I am happy for the opportunity to continue working for the country. A success of blue-and-white creations in the war against coronavirus will be a success for us all,” Pardo said. “The coronavirus vaccine is Israel’s ‘health dome’ for the world.”
Pardo, who served as head of the Mossad from 2011 to 2016, was making a play on words, referring to Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system, which protects the country from enemy rockets.
He said that he will work with the NRX team to “do everything to ensure the success of the vaccine, as well as other developments of the company.”
NRX inked a deal with the Israel Institute for Biological Research earlier this summer to help fast-track its COVID-19 vaccine called BriLife. NRX has exclusive worldwide development, manufacturing and marketing rights for the vaccine. The company has committed to supplying Israel with any required doses of the vaccine if and when it is completed.
“Thanks to the Israeli vaccine, hundreds of millions of people around the world will be vaccinated against the virus that caused a global pandemic,” NRX CEO Jonathan C. Javitt said. “The vaccines so far have shown promising results.”
Javitt said that in a few weeks the company will start “extensive” clinical trials in Georgia and Ukraine.
NRX is a NASDAQ-traded international pharmaceutical company that operates in Israel. Since the start of the pandemic it has been working on potentially life-saving treatments for the disease. It also puts a focus on mental health solutions for those dealing with diseases for which treatments or medications to change their condition have not yet been found.
Javitt said that Pardo is a “welcome addition to our board of directors and we have no doubt that his knowledge and experience in the international field will constitute a significant breakthrough in the distribution of the vaccine worldwide.”