Ensem Therapeutics, Singapore names Dr Shengfang Jin as CEO

Ensem Therapeutics Inc., a biotechnology company focusing on high value and difficult-to-drug oncology targets, today announced the promotion of Dr Shengfang Jin to President and Chief Executive Officer, effective immediately. Dr Jin has more than 25 years of biotech and pharma leadership experience in oncology and other disease therapeutics development.

“On behalf of ENSEM’s Board of Directors, we are delighted to announce the promotion of Dr Jin,” stated Jeff Jonas, MD, President & Chief Executive Officer of ABio-X. “Under Shengfang’s leadership, ENSEM has developed the pioneering Kinetic Ensemble® platform and moved from a discovery stage company to one that is expected to enter the clinic next year. Her vision for targeting non-obvious binding pockets pertinent to human disease has been instrumental to the company in securing a $67 million Series A financing. We look forward to her continued contributions.”

Dr Jin is a co-founder of Ensem Therapeutics and served as the President and Chief Scientific Officer since its inception. Previously, she was Vice President of Discovery Biology at Editas Medicine (EDIT), a clinical-stage gene editing company. Her teams pioneered the discovery of advanced CRISPR gene and cell therapies focusing on ophthalmology, neural diseases, and oncology. Earlier in her career, Dr Jin was Senior Director of Biology at Agios Pharmaceuticals, leading the Small Molecule Cancer Metabolism and Rare Genetic Disease Portfolios that culminated in the approved & first-in-class products (IDHIFA®, TIBSOVO®, PYRUKYND®) and other clinical stage programs. She has also held roles of increasing responsibilities in other Cambridge drug discovery companies. She holds a PhD in Molecular Biology and Microbiology from Tufts Medical School (Boston) and obtained postdoctoral training in Oncology and Tumor Immunology at Harvard Medical School (Boston) as an NIH Postdoctoral Fellow.

“It is a privilege to lead ENSEM as CEO,” stated Dr Shengfang Jin. “I am excited to continue executing on our vision to help patients with transformative medicines leveraging our innovative Kinetic Ensemble® platform. We have assembled a world-class team of drug developers that I look forward to guiding through our next chapter as a clinical-stage company.”

ENSEM has developed an oncology portfolio concentrating on well-validated and novel targets with high unmet medical needs. The company expects to submit an IND filing for its lead program in the fourth quarter of this year and enter the clinic in 2024.
MB Bureau