Company

Focus

Development of safe and highly effective vaccines against potentially life-threatening infectious diseases
Attention to underserved and vulnerable populations (very young, elderly and immunocompromised inviduals)
Provide expertise in emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases

Strategy

HydroVax™ vaccine platform provides increased safety
Preservation of important immunological epitopes for higher immunogenicity
Superior inactivated vaccine formulations for prevention of infectious diseases

Core Values

Commitment to scientific innovation and excellence through teamwork
Shared passion for doing good on a global level
Creating ongoing partnerships within the scientific community

Najít (“Nay-yeet”) is a
Czech word meaning “to find or discover”

Click:

How to pronounce Najít

Najít donates 1%
of net profits to
charities that
support health
and development
programs for children.

Mark K. Slifka, Ph.D., President and CSO

Dr. Slifka earned his PhD at the UCLA School of Medicine and currently holds a joint faculty position as a Professor of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology at Oregon Health & Science University and Senior Scientist at the Oregon National Primate Research Center in addition to his role as President and CSO of Najít Technologies, Inc. Dr. Slifka has published >150 research articles and reviews, including papers in prestigious biomedical journals such as Immunity, Nature, Nature Immunology, Nature Medicine, and the New England Journal of Medicine. He has been quoted in >200 news articles including leading newspapers such as USA Today and the Washington Post. Dr. Slifka has served on academic review panels for the National Institutes of Health, Canadian Institutes of Health, Austrian Fund, Israel Science Foundation, Israel National Institute for Health Policy & Health Services, Wellcome Trust, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Institute of Medicine (IOM), and the Food & Drug Administration (FDA). This service as well as the close association with academic research institutions has played an important role in the early success of Najít Technologies by providing critical opportunities for advanced research collaborations. Dr. Slifka sets expansive goals for NTI’s vaccine development pipeline, identifying significant target pathogens and engaging a talented group of partners to advance these important vaccine programs.

Ian J. Amanna, Ph.D., Senior Vice President for Research

Dr. Amanna received his PhD from the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, followed by a post-doctoral fellowship at the OHSU Vaccine & Gene Therapy Institute (VGTI) in Beaverton, OR. Dr. Amanna was originally recruited to Najít Technologies as Director of Research in 2007, and in 2010 he was promoted to Associate Vice President for Research. His broad scientific background includes investigations into gene therapy, primary immune deficiencies, and the duration of immunity following vaccination. His publication on the duration of vaccine-induced immunity published in the New England Journal of Medicine (Amanna et al. NEJM 2007; 1903-15) was ranked by the Amedeo Medical Literature Service as one of the top 10 most influential papers published in 2007 (http://www.amedeoprize.com/). Dr. Amanna oversees the operations at NTI’s research and development laboratories, in addition to management of outside contract research activities in support of NTI’s vaccine development programs.

Samantha Harmon, B.A., M.B.A., Senior Director of Accounting and Administration

Samantha Harmon graduated from Lafayette College with a degree in Business/Economics and received her MBA from Portland State University. Mrs. Harmon’s accounting background includes working at Platt Electric as a Senior Accountant, where she was instrumental in implementing a new branch budgeting program and created an automated daily branch cash reconciliation program for 100 branch locations, as well as transitioning the organization from a paper based company to a paperless environment. Mrs. Harmon’s role at NTI includes grant management, accounts and payroll, and human resources.

Najít Technologies is dedicated to the development of safe and effective vaccines against infectious diseases of global importance

EMERGING INFECTIOUS DISEASES
Emerging infectious diseases represent a significant threat to public health. This broad category encompasses diseases that are newly discovered and characterized (e.g., Hepatitis C, HIV) as well as diseases that have re-emerged or spread beyond their normal geographical range (e.g., yellow fever, dengue). Many of these diseases disproportionately affect people in the developing world. There is, however, an increasing inter-relatedness between diseases considered endemic in foreign countries and emergence of these diseases in North America. Two examples of this trend include outbreaks of West Nile virus and dengue virus in the United States.

DISEASES IN THE DEVELOPING WORLD
As reflected in our Mission Statement, Najít Technologies is dedicated to the development of safe and effective vaccines for diseases that affect developing countries. Our goal is to develop products for diseases that affect large numbers of people in endemic countries. These diseases have not received adequate attention as demonstrated by the so-called “10/90″ gap which describes the existing scenario wherein less than 10% of healthcare funding is spent on diseases that affect more than 90% of the world-wide disease burden. Although this gap is narrowing, there nevertheless continues to be a large discrepancy in healthcare spending between first and third world countries. This divergence in vaccine and healthcare coverage enables potentially preventable infectious diseases to threaten populations throughout the world. To address this need, Najít Technologies is developing vaccines for both endemic and newly emerging diseases that affect millions of people around the globe.