Building the Leading Extracellular Protein Degradation Company

We are using our proprietary LYTAC (lysosomal targeting chimeras) Platform to discover and develop first-in-class therapeutics that degrade extracellular and membrane-bound proteins. Our LYTAC degraders have the potential to drive a range of difficult-to-treat diseases, including cancers and autoimmune conditions.

Founded in 2019, we are privately held and backed by a syndicate of blue-chip investors. We are headquartered and have laboratory space in the thriving South San Francisco biotech hub.

LYTAC binding to receptor on the cell surface

About our
Founding

In July 2020, Carolyn Bertozzi, Ph.D. and her team at Stanford University published a transformational paper that characterized a new class of molecules called lysosome-targeting chimeras, or LYTACs. In the paper, Dr. Bertozzi and her team described a new method of engineering an antibody to shuttle a targeted extracellular protein into the lysosome, a cellular component inherently responsible for degradation. Versant Ventures subsequently licensed the technology, and Lycia, ultimately, was born.

Read Dr. Bertozzi’s original paper on LYTACs and learn how Lycia has continued to evolve this novel technology to expand its potential applications.

Learn more about our platform.

Our Team

We are led by a team of seasoned industry executives who bring a mix of emerging biotech and large pharma experience and expertise. Our Board of Directors and Scientific Advisory Board comprise renowned industry leaders and academic visionaries whose strategic guidance and insights are helping support the growth of our company and advancement of our pipeline.

William J. Rieflin

Chair, Lycia’s Board of Directors
Chair, NGM Biopharmaceuticals

Tim Anderson

Managing Director, Blue Owl

Ming Fang

Managing Director, Redmile Group

Laurent Fischer, M.D.

President and Chief Executive Officer, Adverum Biotechnologies

Andrew Gottesdiener, M.D.

Partner, Venrock Healthcare Capital Partners

Clare Ozawa, Ph.D.

Managing Director, Versant Ventures

Aetna Wun Trombley, Ph.D.

President and Chief Executive Officer

Carolyn Bertozzi, Ph.D.

Academic Founder, Lycia
Chair, Scientific Advisory Board

Professor of Chemistry, Stanford University
Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute

Carolyn Bertozzi, Ph.D. is the Anne T. and Robert M. Bass Professor of Chemistry and Professor of Chemical & Systems Biology and Radiology at Stanford University, the Director of Stanford’s Sarafan ChEM-H Institute, and an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. In 2022, Professor Bertozzi received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for founding the field of bioorthogonal chemistry, a set of chemical reactions that allow researchers to study molecules and their interactions in living things without interfering with natural biological processes.

Professor Bertozzi has co-founded eight companies advancing her work and other approaches for therapeutic application and has previously served on the scientific advisory boards for GlaxoSmithKline and several other biotech companies. She currently serves on the Board of Directors for Alnylam Pharmaceuticals and OmniAb and previously served on Eli Lilly and Company’s Board of Directors from 2017 to 2021.

Professor Bertozzi is an elected member of the Institute of Medicine, National Academy of Sciences, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and has been awarded the Lemelson-MIT Prize, the Heinrich Wieland Prize and a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship, among many others. She completed her B.S. in Chemistry from Harvard University and her Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley.

Carolyn Bertozzi, Ph.D.

Professor of Chemistry, Stanford University
Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Chair, Lycia Scientific Advisory Board

Monther Abu-Remaileh, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor of Chemical Engineering, Stanford University

Bio
Mark M. Davis, Ph.D.

Professor of Microbiology and Immunology, Stanford University
Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute

Bio
Randy Schekman, Ph.D.

Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology, University of California at Berkeley
Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute

Bio
Alanna Schepartz, Ph.D.

Professor of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California at Berkeley

Bio
Daniel D. Von Hoff, M.D.

Distinguished Professor at the Translational Genomics Research Institute

Bio

Our Investors

“Lycia’s focus on the untapped extracellular proteome and the potential to leverage the LYTAC platform across therapeutic modalities, including small molecules and antibodies, has the potential to transform the protein degradation field.”

Clare Ozawa, Ph.D.
Managing Director, Versant Ventures