Lycera Corp.

Paul S. Changelian, Ph.D. and Peter L. Toogood, Ph.D. have been appointed to Lycera Corp.’s drug development team. Dr. Changelian, previously director of inflammation biology at Pfizer, will serve as vice president of biology. Dr. Toogood, who was an associate director and research fellow at Parke-Davis and Pfizer, will be Lycera’s vice president of chemistry and chemical biology. Both will play important roles in Lycera’s efforts to develop novel small molecule treatments for patients with autoimmune diseases including psoriasis, rheumatoid arthritis, lupus erythematosis, inflammatory bowel disease and transplant rejection.

Together Drs. Changelian and Toogood have more than 30 years of drug discovery and development experience. Dr. Changelian’s research focuses on autoimmune diseases, organ transplantation and kinase biology. Dr. Toogood’s research is in immunology, inflammation, infectious diseases and cancer.

“Paul and Peter bring a wealth of experience in autoimmune drug discovery and development that will be essential to Lycera’s success,” said Dr. Gary Glick, the company’s co-founder and chief scientific officer. “Their track records of successfully developing promising compounds in this area will be crucial as we continue to advance our development initiatives for small-molecule immunomodulators.”