Medicxi invests $100 million in newly launched Alys Pharmaceuticals

Founded by consolidating six existing Medicxi biotech firms, Alys Pharmaceuticals aims to transform the treatment paradigm for several dermatology conditions. The company combines the assets and platforms of Aldena Therapeutics, Granular Therapeutics, Klirna Biotech – which have an affiliate in Switzerland and a significant portion of their staff based in Switzerland – as well as Graegis Pharmaceuticals, Nira Biosciences and Vimela Therapeutics.

The newly formed company boasts a pipeline of 14 active programs targeting indications such as atopic dermatitis, vitiligo, psoriasis and mastocytosis. 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 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 ten clinical Proof-of-Concept (POC) readouts, and potentially at least one program to advance to registrational studies.

Operations and team in Switzerland
With the incorporation in Switzerland underway, Alys operations will also be conducted in Switzerland, with activities covering the entire spectrum of biotech work, from general management, finance, R&D, medical, and regulatory examples. One of Alys’ affiliates (Aldena Therapeutics) also has an active collaboration with EMPA (Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science & Technology) under an Innosuisse grant, to develop one of its core technologies.

Moreover, Alys's team comprises 8-10 full-time employees based in Switzerland alone, and “this will increase as our programs progress forward. Alys in Switzerland is also supported by a significant number of Swiss-based consultants and Swiss-based R&D service companies with staff employed by Alys and affiliates”, says Lausanne-based Thibaud Portal, formerly Galderma’s Global Head of Prescription Medicines. Alongside being the co-founder, Portal is assuming the role of COO to run Alys.

World-leading dermatology experts to fuel Alys’ development
Co-founded by Medicxi and several world-leading dermatology and scientific experts, Besides Portal is a top-notch team that includes co-founders John Harris (UMass Chan Medical School), Brian Kim (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.

Alys is working with leading institutions such as 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, demonstrating its commitment to collaborative research and development.

$100 million for Alys
Alys is backed by international investment firm Medicxi with $100M financing. Francesco De Rubertis, Partner at Medicxi, who will assume the role of Chairman of Alys Pharmaceutical said: “We believe that bringing together several asset-centric companies with a phenomenal team will power up Alys to transform innovation in immuno-dermatology. Alys manages a broad pipeline of assets with diverse risk profiles and will hugely benefit from this change of scale and facilitated access to capital.”

(Press release/RAN)
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