Calico Appoints Philip R. Kym Head of Drug Discovery

Calico Life Sciences LLC (Calico), a biotechnology organization focused on aging and age-related diseases and founded by Alphabet Inc. and Arthur D. Levinson, Ph.D., appointed Philip R. Kym, Ph.D., as its Head of Drug Discovery. 

In this newly created role, Kym will oversee the direction, scientific execution, and operational management of Calico’s drug discovery programs, from target identification and validation through lead optimization and candidate selection.

Kym most recently served as Vice President of Global Medicinal Chemistry at AbbVie until his retirement in September 2025. He is an accomplished medicinal chemist and leader with nearly three decades of experience in the biopharmaceutical industry. 

As Vice President of Global Medicinal Chemistry at AbbVie, Kym led a large global medicinal chemistry organization and was responsible for setting a strategy focused on delivering a diverse pipeline of novel therapeutics across small molecules, protein degraders, and antibody-drug conjugates, while also advancing the integration of AI and machine learning technologies into medicinal chemistry design cycles. 

Over the course of his career, he has overseen the discovery of over 25 clinical development candidates across a broad range of therapeutic areas, including antiviral, oncology, immunology, neuroscience, anti-aging, pain, and metabolic diseases. Furthermore, he served as a member of the Joint Steering Committee for the Calico-AbbVie Collaboration.

“Phil is a familiar and respected colleague to many at Calico, and we are pleased to welcome him in this new leadership role,” said Dr. Levinson, CEO of Calico. “He brings to his work deep medicinal chemistry expertise and a proven ability to build strong discovery organizations and partnerships. As Calico continues to advance its own portfolio and forge collaborations to accelerate the development of new medicines targeting aging and age-related diseases, Phil’s leadership will be important in helping shape and expand our drug discovery efforts.”

Kym commented, “Calico has built an impressive track record of innovative biological research, paired with translational drug discovery capabilities that are truly unique. I look forward to continuing to advance programs I have been part of for many years and to leading the expansion of drug discovery initiatives in emerging areas of interest.”