Ensoma Appoints Accomplished Deal Maker Jon Garen as Chief Corporate Development and Business Officer

BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Ensoma, a genomic medicines company advancing the future of medicine through precision one-time, in vivo treatments that precisely engineer any cell of the hematopoietic system, today announced the appointment of Jon Garen as chief corporate development and business officer.

“Jon is an accomplished leader with an exceptional track record in genetic medicines and business development and is joining Ensoma at a pivotal moment as we prepare for our first IND submission next year—representing the first in vivo HSC-targeted gene therapy in humans,” said Jim Burns, CEO of Ensoma. “Jon’s deep expertise, particularly in deal-making across genomic medicines, oncology and rare diseases, will be invaluable as we expand our platform’s benefit to patients beyond our own disease areas. His leadership at several biotech companies, including uniQure, has demonstrated his ability to secure transformative partnerships, raise capital and expand pipelines. I am confident Jon will be instrumental in driving Ensoma’s growth as we transition to a clinical-stage company with our groundbreaking in vivo HSC-targeting platform.”

“I’m thrilled to join Ensoma at such an important time for the company and the field of genomic medicine,” said Mr. Garen. “The potential of Ensoma’s in vivo platform to revolutionize genetic treatments – and potential cures for patients and their families – is truly exciting. I look forward to leveraging my experience in business development and financings to help the company bring these groundbreaking therapies to patients and extend the reach of our platform into new therapeutic areas.”

Prior to joining Ensoma, Jon was chief business officer for Dunad Therapeutics, a company developing therapies for oncology and inflammation. Before that, he held the same role for Nocion Therapeutics and uniQure, an AAV gene therapy company. At uniQure, Jon led a $450 million upfront gene therapy partnership in hemophilia B, acquired key IP assets, negotiated several in-licensing deals and played a crucial role in raising nearly $500 million through follow-on offerings. Earlier in his career, Jon held leadership positions in business development at Forest Labs, which acquired and became Allergan, where he closed numerous deals across CNS, inflammation and metabolic and gastrointestinal diseases, leading to multiple products on the market.

Jon earned a Bachelor of Science degree in physics from MIT and a Master of Environmental Studies from Yale University.

About Ensoma

Ensoma is developing curative medicines through precision in vivo cellular engineering. Our platform combines class-leading proprietary base editing and high-efficiency gene integration systems with high-capacity virus-like particles to provide one-time and durable genetic medicines in a simple outpatient procedure. We are focused on in vivo engineering of hematopoietic stem cells to address genetic diseases, immune disorders and cancer. Ensoma is supported by top-tier investors and a passionate team committed to a bold, global vision for genomic medicines. Ensoma is based in Boston. For more information, visit ensoma.com.