Lycera, a biopharmaceutical company developing breakthrough medicines to treat cancer and autoimmune disease, has named Paul Sekhri president, CEO and a member of the board of directors, effective immediately. Sekhri brings more than 25 years of operational experience in the life sciences industry, including business development and strategy, general management, drug development, and commercial strategy.  He succeeds Kathleen M. Metters, Ph.D., who currently serves as senior advisor to the company.

Previously, Sekhri was senior vice president, integrated care at Sanofi, where he led the creation of innovative solutions and business models to meet patient needs. He was group executive vice president, global business development and chief strategy officer at Teva Pharmaceutical Industries. Prior to this, Sekhri was operating partner and head, biotech ops group at TPG Biotech, the life science venture arm of the global private investment firm TPG, where he was responsible for a portfolio of more than 50 life science firms.

Sekhri founded and was president and CEO of Cerimon Pharmaceuticals, focused on autoimmune diseases and pain management, and prior to that, he was president and chief business officer of Ariad Pharmaceuticals. Earlier in his career, he held senior positions at Novartis Pharma, including as senior vice president and head, global search and evaluation and M&A. He also held managerial positions at Millipore and PerSeptive Biosystems.  

Sekhri has worked as a director of numerous private and public company boards, including KAI Pharmaceuticals, Intercept Pharmaceuticals, Macrogenics, PatientSafe Solutions and Tandem Diabetes, and as board advisor to IMS Health. Currently, he is director of Veeva Systems.