Vicore Pharma names Rob Slack chief scientific officer

Vicore Pharma Holding AB announced on July 6, 2026 that it has appointed Rob Slack, PhD, FRSB, as Chief Scientific Officer, according to a press release filed with the SEC. Slack succeeds Johan Raud, MD, PhD, who will transition to Senior Advisor, supporting the company through key upcoming milestones.¹

Slack brings more than 20 years of drug discovery leadership across biotech and large pharma, coming to Vicore after serving as Vice President and Head of Respiratory Biology at GSK, and prior to that as acting Chief Scientific Officer at Galecto.¹ During his career he contributed to approved respiratory therapies including vilanterol (Breo, Trelegy) and umeclidinium (Anoro, Trelegy) for asthma and COPD, and led discovery work on the inhaled αvβ6 inhibitor GSK3008348 for IPF.¹ He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology, has authored more than 60 publications, and holds a PhD from the University of Strathclyde.¹

In his new role, Slack will lead Vicore's research strategy and the continued development of the company's next-generation AT2 receptor agonist pipeline.¹

CEO Ahmed Mousa commented on the appointment, and Slack described the angiotensin II type 2 receptor mechanism as one he found particularly notable in respiratory and fibrotic disease research, according to the release.

The company's lead program, buloxibutid, is an oral small molecule angiotensin II type 2 receptor agonist that has received Orphan Drug and Fast Track designation from the FDA and is being studied in a global 52-week Phase 2b trial called ASPIRE in patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.¹ Vicore's shares trade on Nasdaq Stockholm under the ticker VICO and on Nasdaq in the United States under VCRE.