Vickers to helm Northern Biologics

Northern Biologics Inc. (Toronto, Ontario) announced Thursday that Phil Vickers will join the company as CEO. Vickers departed as global head of R&D of Shire plc (LSE:SHP; NASDAQ:SHPG) in June (see BioCentury Extra, June 30).

Vickers told BioCentury his initial focus will be to ensure "operational excellence" in clinical trial design and enrollment as the company brings its lead candidate, MSC-1, into the clinic for solid tumors early next year. MSC-1 is a humanized mAb targeting leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF), a cytokine that promotes both tumor immunosuppression and cancer stem cell renewal (see BioCentury Innovations, Sept. 21)...