Dr. Kovacs possesses over 20 years of experience in pharmaceutical product development with expertise in vaccines and biopharmaceuticals. In his current role, Dr. Kovacs provides strategic guidance across BARDA's portfolio of vaccines to address COVID-19, Pandemic Influenza, emerging infectious diseases and Chemical, Biological, Nuclear, and Radiological (CBRN) threats. Previously, he served as Director in the HHS Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) office. He was responsible for BARDA’s portfolio of drugs, vaccines, and diagnostics against the major CBRN threats impacting the health security of the United States. He built and managed a portfolio estimated at $6 billion, with over 80 candidate products spanning all phases of clinical development. He was responsible for the approval of raxibacumab (anthrax monoclonal antibody therapeutic) and BAT (botulism antitoxin) – the first two products licensed through the FDA Animal Rule. He delivered eight products to the US Strategic National Stockpile for use in the event of national emergencies. For his service to the Nation, he received the prestigious HHS Secretary’s Award for Distinguished Service two times.Prior to joining public service, Dr. Kovacs worked at Wyeth where he developed pediatric and adult vaccines against influenza, respiratory syncytial virus, parainfluenza virus, human papilloma virus, and herpes simplex virus. He was responsible for all aspects of early vaccine development including R&D, innovation, technology transfer, preclinical testing, upstream and downstream process development, GMP manufacturing, analytical development, formulation, IND filing, project management, outsource management, and finance.
Listed skills include Vaccines, Infectious Diseases, Molecular Biology, Drug Development, and 38 others.