Paul M. Peloso, MD, joined COUR in 2024 as Chief Medical Officer, where he leads the company’s clinical development programs. Prior to joining COUR, Dr. Peloso served as Chief Medical Officer for ACELYRIN, Inc., a biopharma company focused on providing new life-changing treatment options for patients by employing a strategy of identifying, acquiring, and accelerating development and commercialization of promising drug candidates. While at ACELYRIN, he was responsible for the global clinical development of the company’s pipeline of products, with an initial focus in immunology.
Before ACELYRIN, Dr. Peloso was Vice President and Therapeutic Head of Rheumatology at Horizon Therapeutics, where he was responsible for advancing the company’s pipeline of first-in-class rare disease medicines, including KRYSTEXXA®, until its acquisition by Amgen in 2023. Prior to this role, he served as Group Medical Director at both AbbVie and Merck, where he leveraged his extensive experience in biologics, small molecules, and medical devices.
Among Dr. Peloso’s global clinical and regulatory achievements across his career, he helped develop and ultimately secure approvals for ORILISSA® (elagolix), ILUMYA® (tildrakizumab), ARCOXIA® (etoricoxib), and ENBREL® (etanercept). He also led a broad range of successful filings in numerous therapeutic areas that have led to approvals by the US Food and Drug Administration, the European Medicines Agency, and in the Asian and Latin American markets.
Prior to entering the industry, Dr. Peloso was in academic practice in rheumatology in the US and Canada. He holds 2 bachelor’s degrees, one in biochemistry and another in sociology, from McMaster University and earned his medical degree from the University of Calgary before training in rheumatology and epidemiology.