Silence Therapeutics taps wisdom of Solomon for CEO role

Silence Therapeutics has appointed Dr David Horn Solomon to its board to take on the role of chief executive, effective immediately.

Solomon, an experienced biotech chief executive, board member and investor, will head up Silence Therapeutics' leadership team from Tuesday.

The former Zealand Pharma CEO also serves on the board of directors of TxCell and was earlier a member of the boards at Onxeo and Promosome.

Annalisa Jenkins, executive chair of Silence Therapeutics, said, "I am thrilled to be welcoming David to lead the company through its next phase of growth. Having held senior management roles in both the US and Europe, David brings extensive international leadership experience in the biotech industry with a track record of successful pipeline delivery, financing and deal-making."

With Solomon at the helm, Silence believes it is in "a strong position" to maximise the potential of its intellectual property and technology through strong collaborations and the advancement of its lead candidate SLN124.

Solomon said, "In this age of RNAi, Silence's world-class RNAi platform offers an exciting opportunity to build a competitive drug development company with global relevance."

As of 1400 BST, Silence shares had slipped 0.63% to 158.75p.