Originating from the aggregation of six asset-centric dermatology companies, Alys Pharmaceuticals was launched with $100 million financing by Medicxi, a healthcare-focused investment firm. 

Alys combines the assets and platforms of Aldena Therapeutics, Graegis Pharmaceuticals, Granular Therapeutics, Klirna Biotech, Nira Biosciences and Vimela Therapeutics.

With more than a dozen active programs, Alys anticipates further organic pipeline growth from its platforms, covering inflammatory diseases, autoimmune diseases, dermatology supportive care for cancer patients, and rare dermatoses. Over the next 3 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.

Alys 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. The company was co-founded by Medicxi and several dermatology and scientific experts, including 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 will target emerging indications such as atopic dermatitis, vitiligo, alopecia areata, and chronic spontaneous urticaria. 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 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.

“We believe that bringing together several asset-centric companies with a phenomenal team will power up Alys to transform innovation in immuno-dermatology," Francesco De Rubertis, Chairman of Alys Pharmaceuticals and Partner at Medicxi, said in a company news release. "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.”