Altimmune names Jerry Durso as board chairman

Altimmune Inc. (NASDAQ: ALT) appointed Jerry Durso as chairman of its board of directors, effective August 12, 2025. Durso succeeds Mitchel Sayare, who will remain on the board as an independent director.

The leadership change aligns with the biopharmaceutical company's planned advancement into Phase 3 development of pemvidutide for metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH). Altimmune expects to hold an End-of-Phase 2 Meeting with the FDA for MASH in the fourth quarter of 2025.

Durso joined Altimmune's board in February 2025 and brings more than 30 years of experience in the life sciences industry. He previously served as chief executive officer and board member at Intercept Pharmaceuticals, where he led the company through its acquisition by Alfasigma. Before Intercept, Durso spent over two decades at Sanofi in various senior leadership positions, including chief commercial officer of the Global Diabetes Division and U.S. Pharmaceuticals business.

"Jerry has made a significant impact and I expect the value of his contributions to increase even further in this new role," said Vipin K. Garg, president and chief executive officer of Altimmune.

Durso stated that pemvidutide has "a compelling and differentiated therapeutic profile that was reinforced by the recent topline data from the IMPACT trial in MASH."

Sayare, who served as chairman for seven years, said the transition emphasizes "commercial and corporate development expertise" as the company prepares for Phase 3 development.

Altimmune focuses on developing peptide-based therapeutics for liver and cardiometabolic diseases. The company's lead program is pemvidutide, a GLP-1/glucagon dual receptor agonist being developed for MASH, alcohol use disorder, alcohol-associated liver disease and obesity.

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