Sitryx announces leadership transition
2024年7月2日 - 8:00PM
Sitryx announces leadership
transition
- Iain Kilty appointed Chief
Executive Officer
- Neil Weir to assume role of
President and remain on Board of Directors
Oxford, UK – 2 July 2024 –
Sitryx Therapeutics (“the Company”), a biopharmaceutical company
focused on modulating immune cell metabolism to advance a new
generation of therapies for chronic autoimmune and inflammatory
diseases, today announces key leadership changes to support the
Company’s next stage of growth. Iain Kilty, Ph.D., currently
Sitryx’s Chief Scientific Officer, has been appointed as the
Company’s new Chief Executive Officer and Board member, effective 2
July 2024. Neil Weir assumes the role of President and will remain
a member of the Board.
Iain brings to the CEO role more than 25 years
of global biopharmaceutical industry experience, including 22 years
at Pfizer working across the drug discovery paradigm, and in
increasingly senior leadership roles in the pharma and biotech
sector. His significant organisational and scientific expertise,
and extensive industry network, will play a critical role in
enhancing Sitryx’s discovery pipeline and advancing its proprietary
assets into the clinic, a key focus of the Company during its next
stage of growth.
Neil has led Sitryx for more than six years,
overseeing a period of significant growth and many achievements,
including a global licensing and research collaboration with Lilly,
established in 2020 and worth up to $1.1 billion. The first
candidate from that partnership moved into Lilly’s own Phase 1
pipeline in early 2024. Neil also secured the Company’s strong
financial position, leading successful financings in excess of $75
million to advance Sitryx’s broad proprietary pipeline of first-
and best-in-class therapies. In April 2024 Sitryx nominated its
first clinical development candidate, SYX-5219 for atopic
dermatitis, a major milestone in Sitryx’s transition from a
research organisation to a clinical stage company. In assuming the
role of President, Neil will continue to support the Company in its
next phase.
Pierre Legault, Chairman of Sitryx,
commented: “On behalf of the Board I would like to extend
a warm welcome to our new CEO Iain Kilty, a highly respected
industry executive with a deep understanding of drug development
and major autoimmune indications with high unmet need. He is
exceptionally qualified to lead Sitryx during this next exciting
chapter, as we focus on continuing to build our promising pipeline
of best- and first-in-class therapies and bringing our proprietary
assets into the clinic.
“I want to thank Neil for his excellent
leadership and for establishing Sitryx as a leader in the field of
immunometabolism. We are delighted that he will continue to support
the business in his role as President and look forward to working
together as we drive towards the clinic.”
Neil Weir, outgoing Chief Executive
Officer, commented: “I am hugely proud of the team here at
Sitryx who, in six years, have translated early-stage scientific
excellence into a pipeline of best-in-class therapies with the
potential to address some of the most challenging autoimmune and
inflammatory diseases. I am very pleased to hand over to Iain,
whose industry, clinical and organisational expertise make him the
ideal person to drive Sitryx’s strategy going forward. I look
forward to working alongside him and the exceptional team at
Sitryx, to achieve the longer-term goals of the business.”
Iain Kilty, incoming Chief Executive
Officer of Sitryx, commented: “I have had the great
pleasure of working with some of the brightest minds in the
industry here at Sitryx and feel hugely privileged to lead the
Company as CEO. Rapidly progressing our lead asset, SYX-5219,
towards clinical development, alongside the clinical advances of
our partnered program with Lilly, marks a significant milestone for
the Company. I look forward to building on the progress delivered
under Neil’s exemplary leadership, and to achieving our ultimate
goal of developing a next generation of therapies for chronic
autoimmune and inflammatory diseases that can drive long term
disease remission and improved outcomes for patients.”
Sitryx founding
Board member and Managing Partner at SV Health Investors, Kate
Bingham commented: “We have been huge
supporters of both the world class science and leadership team at
Sitryx from day one. We have watched as the Company has
successfully navigated its way from early-stage start-up to a more
mature business, with promising, differentiated assets and large
pharma validation. This is in no small part due to Neil Weir’s
impressive leadership. Going forward we have huge confidence in
Sitryx’s new CEO, Iain Kilty, to lead the business and maintain its
impressive trajectory. Iain knows Sitryx and the wider industry
inside out and has the requisite skills to shape the future
direction and strategy of the Company. We look forward to his
expert leadership and to continued progress in the months and years
ahead.”
Iain joined Sitryx as Chief Scientific Officer
in 2021 and is a Venture Partner at SV Health Investors, in
addition to sitting on science advisory boards at multiple
companies. He graduated with a BA and MA Cantab in Biochemistry
from Jesus College, University of Cambridge, UK, before completing
his Ph.D. in the Breast Cancer Research Laboratories at the
University of Liverpool, UK.
-Ends-
For more information about Sitryx please
contact:
ICR ConsiliumMary-Jane Elliott,
David Daley, Sue Stuart+44 (0)20 3709
5700Sitryx@consilium-comms.com
About SitryxSitryx is a
biopharmaceutical company focused on modulating immune cell
metabolism to advance a new generation of first- and best-in-class
disease-modifying therapies for chronic autoimmune and inflammatory
diseases. Sitryx's proprietary science is led by a highly
experienced management team and supported by world class academic
founders. Sitryx was founded by internationally renowned
researchers in the field of immunology and metabolism, including
Houman Ashrafian, Luke O'Neill, Jonathan Powell, Jeff Rathmell,
Michael Rosenblum and Paul Peter Tak. Together they have published
more than 1,000 papers in the field, making multiple key
breakthroughs in our understanding of how the energetic status of
immune cells is critical in regulating disease activity.
Sitryx was founded in 2018 with seed funding
from SV Health Investors and has raised in excess of $75 million to
date from an international syndicate of specialist investors
including SV Health Investors, Sofinnova Partners, Oxford Science
Enterprises, Longwood Fund, Lilly and GSK. In 2020, Sitryx formed
an exclusive global licensing and research collaboration with Eli
Lilly and Company. The Company has a broad pipeline of small
molecules against novel targets in major autoimmune indications
with high unmet need. Sitryx is headquartered in Oxford, UK. For
more information, please visit www.sitryx.com.