Arialys Welcomes Dr. Peter Flynn as President & CEO

Arialys Therapeutics, a leading biotechnology company focused on developing precision medicines for autoimmune neuropsychiatry, has announced the appointment of Peter Flynn, Ph.D., as its new President and Chief Executive Officer. Dr. Flynn brings over 20 years of executive leadership experience in the biotech sector, having successfully led private start-ups and established public companies.

His expertise includes securing key financings and pharmaceutical partnerships, advancing groundbreaking therapeutics from research to clinical trials, and bringing FDA-approved medicines to market. Additionally, Jay Lichter, Ph.D., Managing Partner of Avalon BioVentures and former President and CEO of Arialys, will now serve as the Chair of the company’s Board of Directors.

Dr. Peter Flynn said “Arialys is on the forefront of transforming the treatment landscape for neuropsychiatry by applying a precision medicine approach to breakthrough insights in autoimmune driven neuropsychiatric diseases. Arialys has already generated significant preclinical proof-of-concept data for ART5803, and I look forward to working with the dedicated team and distinguished Clinical Advisory Board to advance this potentially transformative medicine into the clinic next year. I also am excited to build upon the team’s insights, discovering and characterizing pathogenic autoantibodies, to explore additional therapeutic opportunities for the treatment of CNS diseases driven by autoimmunity.”

Before joining Arialys, Flynn was the Co-founder and Chief Operating Officer of Artiva Biotherapeutics. There, he managed business development, strategy, research, manufacturing, and corporate operations. Under his leadership, Artiva secured significant financing, obtained clearance for several IND applications, established custom office and research facilities, developed internal GMP manufacturing capabilities, and formed corporate partnerships with Merck and Affimed.

Prior to his tenure at Artiva, Flynn served as the Global Head of Development and a senior executive at Orexigen. He directed the post-marketing development and regulatory activities for Contrave, an FDA-approved weight-loss medication. He coordinated efforts across the U.S., E.U., and MENA regions, collaborating with the commercial team to provide robust medical and regulatory support for global partnerships and campaigns.

Before Orexigen, Flynn was the Senior Vice President of Early Program Development at Fate Therapeutics. He was instrumental in developing the iPSC platform and was part of the senior executive team during Fate’s IPO in 2013. Earlier in his career, Flynn held the position of Vice President of Research at Ren Pharmaceuticals.

Flynn began his industry career at KaloBios, an antibody therapeutics company, where he led the biochemistry team in developing both the platform technology and therapeutic pipeline.BHe earned his Ph.D. in biochemistry from the Imperial Cancer Research Fund / University College London and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of California, San Francisco.