Alys Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is coming out of the gate strong with $100M financing from Medicxi to advance its immuno-dermatology focused pipeline.
Alys combines six asset-centric Medicxi companies including Al Aldena Therapeutics, Graegis Pharmaceuticals, Granular Therapeutics, Klirna Biotech, Nira Biosciences and Vimela Therapeutics. Co-founded by Medicxi and several dermatology and scientific experts, including TDD Editorial Advisory Board member John Harris, MD, (UMass Chan Medical School), Brian Kim, MD, (Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai), Lars French (LMU, Munich), Nobel Prize winner Craig Mello (UMass Chan Medical School), Eric Deutsch (Gustave Roussy) and Mark Prausnitz (Georgia Institute of Technology), Alys aspires to redefine the landscape of dermatological treatments.
The Company is run by co-founder and COO Thibaud Portal (formerly Galderma’s Global Head of Prescription Medicines) and Medicxi’s Francesco De Rubertis serves as Chairman of the Board.
Alys believes that emerging indications such as atopic dermatitis, vitiligo, alopecia areata and chronic spontaneous urticaria, will see the next breakthroughs in dermatological advancements. The pipeline also includes programs focused on underserved indications such as mastocytosis, cutaneous T-cell lymphoma or prevention of skin side effects of oncology therapies.
Alys is working with Institut Gustave Roussy, UMass Chan Medical School, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, Georgia Institute of Technology and Empa, the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science & Technology.
With more than a dozen active programs, Alys anticipates further organic pipeline growth from its cutting-edge platforms, covering inflammatory diseases, autoimmune diseases, dermatology supportive care for cancer patients and rare dermatoses.
Over the next three years, the company aims to deliver between seven to 10 clinical Proof-of-Concept (POC) readouts, and potentially at least one program to advance to registrational studies.
“It is uniquely exciting to oversee such a rich and diverse pipeline, bringing forward modalities that will break new ground in dermatology, including peptides, sophisticated antibodies, or vectorized siRNA,” says John Harris, MD Chief Innovation Officer of Alys Pharmaceuticals, in a news release. He is also the founding Director of the Vitiligo Clinic and Research Center, founding director of the Autoimmune Therapeutics Institute and Professor and Chair in the Department of Dermatology at UMass Chan Medical School in Worcester, MA.
Brian Kim, MD, Vice Chair of Research in the Department of Dermatology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, agrees: “With its diverse pipeline, Alys’ commitment to advancing the frontiers of immuno-dermatology has the potential to bring transformative solutions to patients worldwide.”