Joseph Rininger

Dr. Rininger has more than 20 years of experience in basic biomedical research and biopharmaceutical product development, manufacturing, and program management with an emphasis on vaccines and gene therapy. At LBG, he leads product development engagements with cell and gene therapy companies, vaccine developers, and service providers and has also led multiple pre-IND and subsequent IND submissions for these therapeutics. In addition, he supports both commercial and U.S. government-funded development programs as a subject matter expert on vaccine and biopharmaceutical product development and program management.

Before joining LBG, Dr. Rininger worked at several small and mid-size biotechnology companies, assuming positions of increased responsibility at each organization. He was the program manager of a BARDA contract for the advanced development and commercialization of Flublok®, the first approved recombinant hemagglutinin-based subunit vaccine for seasonal influenza. This role encompassed planning and leading a cross-functional team in the execution of tasks involving all areas of recombinant protein-based vaccine development (process development, formulation development and stability, pre-clinical efficacy and toxicology, quality control/quality systems, process and facility validation, manufacturing process transfer, regulatory affairs and clinical development) and routine government reporting.

Prior to this role, Dr. Rininger served as Director of Business Development, where he worked to secure new biologic contract manufacturing projects, grew an established research product business unit, evaluated in- and out-licensing of technology, and applied for NIH funding opportunities. He successfully oversaw project teams for the development of upstream and downstream processes and transfer to cGMP manufacturing of four vaccine candidates and two biologics, including Fc-Fusion proteins that have entered clinical development. In technology licensing and government funding, Dr. Rininger licensed the manufacturing technology and supported the regulatory submissions for Glybera, the first AAV gene therapy approved in the Western world, and was awarded an AAV manufacturing process development project from NIH/NHLBI.

Dr. Rininger has several awarded and pending patents and is well published in industry magazines and peer-reviewed journals. He earned a Ph.D. from Cornell University in Toxicology and a B.S. in Marine Biology with a concentration in Biotechnology from Fairleigh Dickinson University.