WATERTOWN, Mass., Aug. 07, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Vigil Neuroscience, Inc. (Nasdaq: VIGL), a clinical-stage biotechnology company committed to harnessing the power of microglia for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases, today announced the appointment of Christopher J. Silber, M.D. as Chief Medical Officer. Dr. Silber brings over 30 years of biopharmaceutical industry experience and a track record of clinical and regulatory success developing novel therapeutics in neuroscience.
“We are thrilled to welcome Dr. Silber to Vigil as our new Chief Medical Officer at this pivotal time as we advance VGL101 through Phase 2 clinical development and work towards moving our small molecule program into the clinic later this year,” said Ivana Magovčević-Liebisch, Ph.D., J.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of Vigil. “His proven clinical leadership and extensive neuroscience and rare disease drug development experience will be instrumental to our patient-centered mission of developing potentially transformative treatments for rare and common neurodegenerative diseases.”
Dr. Silber joins Vigil from Nocion Therapeutics, where he was Chief Medical Officer and led the clinical strategy for the company’s small molecule platform, including development of NTX-1175, a new chemical entity for cough indications. Prior to Nocion, he served as Senior Vice President, Clinical Development at Sage Therapeutics, where he led clinical development efforts for the portfolio, supporting the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval of ZULRESSO® for the treatment of postpartum depression, zuranolone development for major depressive disorder and postpartum depression, and progression of the early neurology therapeutics pipeline. Previously at Agilis Biotherapeutics, Dr. Silber served as Chief Medical Officer where he oversaw the gene therapy pipeline focused on rare diseases of the CNS, including work contributing to the subsequent approval of Upstaza™ for aromatic L-amino acid decarboxylase (AADC) deficiency. He also held positions of increasing responsibilities at Lundbeck, Takeda, Hospira and Abbott Laboratories. Dr. Silber earned his B.A. in Psychology from Tufts University and his M.D. at Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at the University of Buffalo.
“Vigil’s precision-based development approach targeting microglia represents a new frontier in the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases, which remains an area of high unmet medical need,” said Dr. Silber. “I look forward to applying my experience in clinical development and neuroscience to accelerate the development of the Company’s pipeline assets and support our mission to bring novel therapies to people living with these devastating diseases.”
About Vigil Neuroscience
Vigil Neuroscience is a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on developing treatments for both rare and common neurodegenerative diseases by restoring the vigilance of microglia, the sentinel immune cells of the brain. We are utilizing the tools of modern neuroscience drug development across multiple therapeutic modalities in our efforts to develop precision-based therapies to improve the lives of patients and their families. VGL101, our lead clinical candidate, is a fully human monoclonal antibody agonist targeting human triggering receptor expressed on myeloid cells 2 (TREM2) in people with adult-onset leukoencephalopathy with axonal spheroids and pigmented glia (ALSP), a rare and fatal neurodegenerative disease. We are also developing a novel small molecule TREM2 agonist program to treat common neurodegenerative diseases associated with microglial dysfunction, with an initial focus on Alzheimer’s disease (AD) in genetically defined subpopulations.
