Lycera Adds Chief Medical Officer

H. Jeffrey Wilkins, M.D., has been appointed to the newly created position of chief medical officer, Lycera Corp. Dr. Wilkins will lead the development of a pipeline of immune modulators, including an ATPase modulator being developed to treat inflammatory bowel disease, and an RORgamma agonist for immuno-oncology applications. Both are scheduled to enter clinical trials this year. Dr. Wilkins will report to president and chief executive officer Paul Sekhri.
 
Most recently, Dr. Wilkins served as clinical lead and partner of NeXeption, LLC, a biopharmaceutical management company. Prior to this, he was chief medical officer and head of medical affairs at Ceptaris Therapeutics, Inc., where he was the lead clinician on the successful NDA for VALCHLOR gel, approved for the treatment of cutaneous T-cell lymphoma. 
 
Dr. Wilkins also served as vice president, Worldwide Clinical Research, Inflammation/Oncology at Cephalon Inc. and senior vice president of Clinical Development with Ception Therapeutics (acquired by Cephalon).

“We are delighted to welcome Jeff at an important time for the Company, as we plan to advance multiple product candidates into the clinic in the near term,” said Mr. Sekhri. “With over 15 years of clinical research experience, Jeff possesses significant expertise and experience in developing and designing clinical trials in all stages of drug development through market launch.  He will no doubt play a pivotal role in the progress and success of our product candidate programs.”