Mendlein Joins aTyr as Chairman

aTyr Pharma, the San Diego-based developer of a new class of protein drugs, said yesterday that John Mendlein has joined the company as executive chairman of the board. Mendlein is currently the chairman of Fate Therapeutics and Alevium Pharmaceuticals. He was previously the CEO of Adnexus Therapeutics before that company was sold to Bristol-Myers Squibb for more than $400 million. aTyr Pharma was co-founded by Paul Schimmel, the prolific biotech entrepreneur, and a scientist at The Scripps Research Institute.

Author: Luke Timmerman

Luke is an award-winning journalist specializing in life sciences. He has served as national biotechnology editor for Xconomy and national biotechnology reporter for Bloomberg News. Luke got started covering life sciences at The Seattle Times, where he was the lead reporter on an investigation of doctors who leaked confidential information about clinical trials to investors. The story won the Scripps Howard National Journalism Award and several other national prizes. Luke holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and during the 2005-2006 academic year, he was a Knight Science Journalism Fellow at MIT.