Northwest Biotherapeutics (OTCQB: NWBO) ("NW Bio"), a biotechnology company developing DCVax personalised immune therapies for solid tumour cancers, announced yesterday that it has named Dr Kevin T Duffy as its new vice president, medical affairs & external collaborations.

Dr Duffy is joining the company from Merck, where he has served as research scientific director in the Keytruda (pembrolizumab) program during the last five years. His roles covered scientific support and outreach to health care providers and national and regional scientific leaders in more than 20 different solid tumours and hematologic malignancies (blood cancers and lymphomas) relating to Merck's clinical development and commercialisation of Keytruda, and ongoing scientific support for Merck's Investigator-Initiated Study Program. He served as the national contact point between the scientific affairs team working with medical professionals in the field and the internal research and development team in Merck for the Keynote-024 study in first-line non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), the Keynote-522 and -756 studies in triple negative breast cancer and ER+/HER2- breast cancer, and the Keynote-641 study in metastatic prostate cancer. He also served as scientific affairs strategy and training lead in Merck's Global Center for Scientific Affairs for Merck's immuno-oncology franchise for hematologic malignancies. Prior to Merck, Dr Duffy served in Medical Affairs and Scientific Affairs positions in several pharmaceutical companies, including as a regional scientific manager for oncology and cardiovascular therapeutics at AstraZeneca.

Linda Powers, CEO of NW Bio, said, 'Dr Duffy's experience with immune therapies for cancer and one of the most successful product development programs in the field will be an invaluable addition to our team. We at NW Bio could not be more excited about Dr Duffy's choice to join us and help realise the broad potential of DCVax.'