Scientist wearing gloves holding a flask with blue liquid in a laboratory, with a microscope and glassware in the background.

Preserving health and quality of life by preventing serious bacterial infections

Healthcare worker wearing blue gloves administering a vaccine injection into a patient’s upper arm while holding a cotton pad.

Our Mission

Elaris Is Building the Next Generation of Vaccines to Address Serious Bacterial Diseases With Significant Unmet Medical Need

As immune function declines with age, the risk and severity of bacterial infections increase, often leading to hospitalization, recurrent disease, antibiotic exposure, and loss of independence.

Vaccines have transformed public health — preventing millions of serious infections and saving lives every year. Elaris was created to extend that impact to bacterial diseases that continue to place the greatest burden on aging and vulnerable populations.

Company Overview

Focused on Prevention, Driven by Science

At ELARIS, we believe healthy aging begins with prevention. Rather than waiting to treat disease after it occurs, we are focused on stopping serious bacterial infections before they take hold—reducing hospitalizations, limiting antibiotic use, and helping address the growing challenge of antimicrobial resistance.

We are developing next-generation vaccine solutions to address one of the most persistent healthcare-associated infections worldwide.

Our lead program is a highly differentiated vaccine against Clostridioides difficile, a severe, hospital-acquired diarrheal infection that disproportionately affects elderly patients. Guided by rigorous science and a commitment to real-world impact, ELARIS is advancing next-generation bacterial vaccines designed to preserve health and quality of life.

Management Team

Jason Golan
MBA, BSC

CEO and Co-Founder

Christian Taucher
PhD

CSO and Co-Founder

Julia Hinteramskogler
MSc

Head of Technical Development

Jason Golan is the Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of elaris, bringing over 20 years of experience in vaccine biotechnology and global healthcare. He has held senior leadership roles across development, commercial, and corporate strategy at Valneva and Intercell, contributing to the advancement and commercialization of multiple viral and bacterial vaccines. Jason leads elaris’ strategy and execution as the company advances its lead vaccine program. He holds an MBA from Manchester Business School and a BSc from McGill University.

Christian Taucher is Co-Founder and Chief Scientific Officer of ELARIS, leading the development of next-generation vaccines targeting serious infectious diseases, including the company’s lead program C. difficile. He brings extensive experience across vaccine discovery, clinical development, and licensure, having led international programs from Phase I through Phase IV in both biotech and pharma settings. Christian holds a PhD with deep expertise in immunology, bacteriology, and virology from the University of Vienna.

Julia Hinteramskogle is Head of Technical Development at ELARIS, leading CMC and technical operations. She brings over 10 years of biotech experience across analytical and process development, CMC regulatory strategy, and manufacturing scale-up, with hands-on experience supporting late-stage clinical development and technology transfers with global partners. She holds an MSc from IMC Krems.

Our Advisors

Ed J. Kuijper

Jan Poolman

Alexander
von Gabain

Christian
Policard

Thomas
Lingelbach

Ed J. Kuijper, MD, PhD is the previous Head of Experimental Microbiology, Center for Microbiota Analysis and Therapeutics and the National Clostridioides difficile Reference Laboratory at Leiden University Medical Centre (LUMC) and the Centre for Infectious Disease Control (National Institute of Public Health). He is an internationally recognized expert on C. difficile and gastrointestinal microbiota, leading research on the epidemiology and pathogenesis of bacterial infections. Since 2015, his department has hosted the Dutch National Donor Feces Bank, and he founded and supervises the LUMC Microbiota Platform, enabling broad academic and clinical collaborations.

Jan T. Poolman, PhD is a global leader in bacterial vaccine R&D and former Head of Bacterial Vaccines at RIVM, GSK, and Janssen. He led programs from discovery through licensure, contributing to multiple globally marketed vaccines including Synflorix, Nimenrix and Infanrix/Boostrix. He is the author of 300+ publications and trusted advisor to leading vaccine innovators.

Alexander von Gabain, PhD, educated in Heidelberg/Stanford, is molecular biologist, academic, biotech entrepreneur and board member of innovation enterprises: i.a. he was the founding CEO of Intercell, SAB of the Paul Ehrlich Institute, Board of Trustees of the Institute of Science & Technology Austria, Chair of the founding board of the EIT and deputy-president at the Karolinska. His accomplishments in biomedical innovation are documented through many publications / patents and acknowledged by industrial awards, academic prizes and honourable memberships.

Dr. Policard is a senior life sciences executive with extensive international leadership experience. He previously served as Executive Vice President of Sanofi and as a member of its Global Executive Committee, overseeing diagnostics, agro-veterinary activities, and capital development. He also served as Executive Vice President at Institut Pasteur, responsible for technology transfer, and as Chairman of Cellectis. Dr. Policard is Senior Partner of GCA Ltd and Senior Advisor of Vivalto Partners PE. He currently serves on the boards of life sciences companies and health related non-profit organizations.

Mr. Thomas Lingelbach is a seasoned vaccine industry executive and founding President and CEO of Valneva. He previously served as CEO of Intercell AG and held senior leadership roles at Chiron and Novartis Vaccines & Diagnostics, over more than 30 years in the vaccine industry, he has contributed to the development and licensure of over ten novel vaccines across product development, industrial operations, and commercialization. Mr. Lingelbach holds an M.S. in Engineering from Technische Hochschule Mittelhessen (THM), specialized in bio-process engineering and complemented his education with a business administration program. He serves as an advisor to ELARIS in a personal, non-compensated capacity.

Our Science > Program

The Burden of C. Difficile

Global Annual
CDI cases

1 in 11

Persons >65yo dies
within 1 month

≤30%

Recurrence in
antibiotic patients

$6.3b

Annual cost to US
healthcare system

Clostridioides difficile (C. difficile or C. diff) is a leading cause of severe diarrheal disease and one of the most common healthcare-associated infections worldwide. The disease can range from debilitating diarrhea to life-threatening complications, including colitis, sepsis, and death. More than one billion people globally are considered at risk, with over one million infections reported each year.

The severity and scale of the problem have led the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to classify C. difficile as an urgent public health threat.

C. difficile disproportionately affects elderly and hospitalized patients. Among individuals aged 65 and older, outcomes are particularly severe—approximately one in eleven patients who develop C. difficile infection dies, underscoring the vulnerability of aging and immunocompromised populations.

Paradoxically, antibiotics—the current standard of care—are also a major contributor to the disease. Antibiotic exposure disrupts the gut microbiome, increasing the risk of initial C. difficile infection by up to ten-fold. Even after successful treatment, more than 30% of patients experience recurrent disease, often facing repeated hospitalizations and prolonged illness. This cycle places a significant burden on patients and healthcare systems alike, with U.S. costs estimated to exceed $6 billion annually, driven largely by extended hospital stays, isolation measures, and resource utilization.

Vaccination offers the potential for a true paradigm shift. By preventing infection before it begins, vaccines could break the cycle of recurrence, reduce reliance on antibiotics, and meaningfully improve patient outcomes and quality of life—particularly for those most at risk.

Our Science > Vaccine

ELARIS’ Dual Mode Vaccine Approach

C. difficile causes disease through a combination of bacterial colonization in the gut and the production of potent toxins that drive inflammation and tissue damage. Addressing only one of these mechanisms leaves patients vulnerable to infection or recurrence.

ELARIS’s vaccine approach is designed to act through two complementary modes of action:

Neutralizing disease-causing toxins to prevent the symptoms and severity of infection
Targeting bacterial colonization to reduce the risk of infection and recurrence

By engaging the immune system on multiple fronts, our dual-mode strategy aims to provide broader and more durable protection than single-target approaches. This integrated design reflects the complex biology of C. difficile and supports our goal of preventing disease before it begins—particularly in vulnerable, high-risk populations.

3D illustration of rod-shaped bacteria with thin flagella strands floating in a pale green microscopic environment, representing microbial activity or infection.

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Contact Us

info@elaris.com