Pioneering Covalent Biologics
to transform the treatment of cancer and other serious diseases.
Pioneering Covalent Biologics
to transform the treatment of cancer and other serious diseases.
01 about
Enlaza is creating a groundbreaking new class of protein therapeutics that deliver more efficacious and safer treatments for patients.
Enlaza’s breakthrough War-LockTM technology enables generation of unique, highly-selective biologic drugs that are engineered to become warheads with the capacity to irreversibly lock to disease related targets. We leverage our novel synthetic biology platform, coupled with proprietary amino acids, to precision-engineer biological medicines with improved efficacy and safety profiles.
02 Science
Enlaza’s platform technology enables a new generation of covalent-acting, “War-Lock” biologics with improved efficacy and safety profiles.
Enlaza’s groundbreaking technology enables the engineering and production of a powerful new class of biologic drugs. The technology works via incorporating unnatural amino acids with expanded chemical function into protein drugs, allowing covalent bond formation between the drug and its target. Our proprietary amino acid subunits can be incorporated into virtually any protein format without impacting the exquisite therapeutic specificity for the desired targets.
When un-bound in circulation, War-Locks are latent and un-reactive. Only upon specific target engagement is the chemistry activated, rapidly forming a covalent bond between the drug and the target.
Enlaza is developing the novel War-Lock modality to overcome liabilities of current biologic drugs. Standard protein drugs built from native amino acids cannot be easily tuned for specific delivery to diseased areas, leading to sustained exposure to healthy tissue. This leads to limited efficacy, healthy tissue damage, and toxicity. In contrast, Enlaza’s technology allows engineering of protein therapeutics that sustain target occupancy without long-term systemic exposure.
Our compounds distribute rapidly, lock irreversibly to disease-relevant targets, and achieve high exposure in diseased tissues. Any un-bound drug is cleared rapidly, thereby minimizing exposure to healthy tissues. The novel and differentiated War-Lock pharmacological profile enables separation of efficacy from off-target effects to enable safer and more effective therapies.
03 Team
Enlaza is led by an experienced biopharmaceutical team with deep scientific expertise.
“We expect covalency will become a standard part of the tool box in the field of therapeutic proteins and biologics. We are excited to use this technology to transform drug discovery and provide meaningful therapeutic benefits for patients.”
Sergio Duron, Ph.D.
Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer
Dr. Duron founded Enlaza to pioneer the field of covalent biologics. He has an excellent track record with over 18 years of experience in venture-backed biotech. He also serves as a Managing Partner at Avalon BioVentures and CSO at Nerio Therapeutics. He previously was CSO and co-founder for Calporta Therapeutics (acquired by Merck). He was also Senior Vice President for Sitari Pharmaceuticals (acquired by GSK), Vice President at Afraxis (acquired by Genentech) and Director of Chemistry at Zacharon Pharmaceuticals (acquired by BioMarin). In each of the Avalon portfolio companies with which he has been associated, he has been on the founding management team, directing drug discovery efforts and building efficient and productive teams. Prior to joining the Avalon portfolio companies, Dr. Duron was at Kalypsys, where he worked on multiple drug discovery projects spanning CNS diseases, pain and inflammation, metabolic diseases and oncology.
Dr. Duron completed his post-doctoral training at The Scripps Research Institute after earning his Ph.D. in organic chemistry from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and his B.S. in chemistry from the University of Texas at Austin.
Sanford (Sandy) Madigan, Ph.D.
Co-Founder, President and Chief Business Officer
Dr. Madigan has a strong scientific background and 30 years of experience in corporate financing, operations, business and corporate development, and M&A. Dr. Madigan is a Managing Partner with Avalon BioVentures and previously was a serial entrepreneur for Avalon Ventures portfolio companies. Most recently, Dr. Madigan was co-founder and CEO of Nerio Therapeutics in Avalon XI (acquired by Boehringer-Ingelheim in July, 2024 for up to $1.3B). Previously, Dr. Madigan was the transacting CEO of Calporta Therapeutics in Avalon X (acquired by Merck in November, 2019 for up to $576M).
Dr. Madigan performed his post-doctoral training at The Salk Institute for Biological Studies. He received his Ph.D. in Genetics and his B.S. in Biochemistry from The State University of New York at Stony Brook where, as a graduate student, he was awarded the Abrahams Memorial Award for outstanding potential for basic research.
Analeah Heidt, Ph.D.
Chief Scientific Officer
Dr. Heidt has 15 years of experience in the development of a broad range of biologic therapeutics. Trained in antibody discovery and oncology cell biology, Dr. Heidt joined the Biotherapeutics team at Novartis, where she spent eight years in progressively increasing areas of responsibility in the design and development of biologics. Prior to joining Enlaza Therapeutics, she was the EVP of Translational Research at Inhibrx. In that role she built a dynamic, multi-disciplinary, high-performing team, delivering four successful first-in-human IND applications across a diverse array of oncology, immuno-oncology and orphan disease therapeutics, as well as devising and enabling clinical biomarker strategies.
Dr. Heidt completed her post-doctoral training at The Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation. She received her Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from the University of California, San Francisco as a Howard Hughes Predoctoral fellow, and her B.A. in Biology-Chemistry from Claremont McKenna College.
Sateesh Natarajan, Ph.D.
Senior Vice President, CMC Product Development
Dr. Natarajan has over 20 years of experience in research and development of protein-based therapeutics. Prior to joining Enlaza, he served as the Senior Vice President of CMC Development at Silverback Therapeutics. There he built and led the CMC team to complete the development and external manufacturing of multiple novel antibody-drug conjugates for first-in-human trials. He also served as the Vice President of Product Development at Dr.Reddy’s Laboratories, where he provided strategic and technical leadership to develop processes and analytics for a robust biosimilar pipeline and to guide late-stage assets toward regulatory approvals in emerging and developed market countries. He also led research and development efforts at Dendreon and Trubion to advance novel therapies for oncology and inflammatory disorders.
Dr. Natarajan completed his post-doctoral training at The Johns Hopkins Medical School. He received his Ph.D. in Chemical and Biochemical Engineering from The University of Maryland at Baltimore County and his B.Tech. in Chemical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology in Madras, India.
Danny Beck
Vice President, Business Development
Danny Beck has over 13 years of experience working in the healthcare therapeutics industry, serving in both financial and operational capacities.
Prior to joining Enlaza, he led Business Development and Corporate Strategy at Mirati Therapeutics, where he oversaw multiple successful partnership transactions, including the outlicense of adagrasib’s China rights to Zai Lab ($65M upfront + $237M milestones and royalties) and the outlicense of Mirati’s PRC2/EED/EZH2 inhibitor (now ORIC-944) to ORIC Pharmaceuticals ($20M common stock).
Danny was also the Business Development lead for the company’s $4.8B (up to $5.8B) acquisition by Bristol Myers Squibb in January 2024.
Prior to Mirati, he served as a healthcare investor at both Surveyor Capital (Citadel) and Partner Fund Management (PFM) in San Francisco. Danny began his career as a member of the Investment Banking Group at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, where he advised clients on strategic transactions and debt/equity capital raises.
Danny graduated from the University of Southern California, where he received a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with a core concentration in Finance. He is currently an active member of multiple non-profit organizations in the San Diego area.
Patrick (PJ) Burke, Ph.D.
Vice President, Chemistry
Dr. Burke joined Enlaza Therapeutics in April 2023, bringing over 17 years of experience in drug discovery and development of linker-payloads for antibody-drug conjugates. Following academic training in organic chemistry and targeted drug delivery, he joined Seagen (formerly Seattle Genetics) in 2005 as a postdoctoral research associate and progressed through roles of increasing responsibility to Director of Chemistry. Dr. Burke and his team pursued research on linker chemistry development to expand the scope of conjugatable payloads and the discovery of new chemotypes to extend the reach of ADCs as oncology therapeutics. He was co-inventor on multiple linker-payload technologies for targeted drug delivery applications, contributing to seven first-in-human IND programs.
Dr. Burke completed his postdoctoral training in synthetic organic chemistry at Wayne State University. He earned his Ph.D. in chemistry at the University of Colorado at Boulder on a DOD US Army Breast Cancer Research Program predoctoral fellowship, and his B.S. in chemical engineering from the University of Michigan.
Sandra Lee, Ph.D.
Vice President, Human Resources
Dr. Lee joined Enlaza Therapeutics in October 2024, bringing over 20 years of experience in human resources and extensive experience in biotech and life sciences. Dr. Lee specializes in talent management and leadership and organizational development using her expertise to build high performing and engaging organizations.
Most recently with Genentech, Dr. Lee led human resources for the global Informatics organization and helped navigate through a global reorganization while achieving the #1 ranking from Computerworld Best Places to Work for IT. While at Natera, a genetic testing company, she built supporting infrastructure to manage through a high growth period. Earlier in her career, she led human resources for the global R&D organization at Invitrogen.
Dr. Lee earned her Ph.D. in Industrial-Organizational Psychology from Colorado State University and a B.A. in Psychology from Michigan State University.
Emily Rowell, Ph.D.
Vice President, Pharmacology and Translational Research
Dr. Rowell has 15 years of experience in drug discovery and development with an emphasis on biologic therapeutics for immuno-oncology and oncology. Prior to joining Enlaza, Dr. Rowell was a member of the Cancer Therapeutics team at Novartis, where she served as biology lead on multiple programs. More recently, Dr. Rowell was the Sr. Director of Translational Research at Inhibrx, Inc., where she was responsible for designing and implementing clinical biomarker strategies and generating IND-enabling pharmacology and non-clinical safety data packages.
Dr. Rowell completed her post-doctoral training at The University of Washington School of Medicine. She received her Ph.D. in Immunology from the University of Pennsylvania, and her B.A. in Neuroscience from Colgate University.
Lei Wang, Ph.D.
Scientific Advisor, Professor UCSF
Lei Wang is a Professor in the Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, the Cardiovascular Research Institute, and the Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center at University of California San Francisco. His Ph.D. research at UC Berkeley, mentored by Peter G. Schultz, achieved the first expansion of the genetic code to include unnatural amino acids (UAAs) in 2001, for which he was awarded the Young Scientist Award by the Science magazine. After postdoctoral training with Roger Y. Tsien (Nobel Laureate in Chemistry), Wang started his group at the Salk Institute in 2005, and moved to UCSF in 2014. His group has developed new methods for the expansion of the genetic code in a variety of cells and animals, and has discovered that release factor one is nonessential in E. coli.
Recently, Wang pioneered the concept of proximity-enabled bioreactivity and achieved the genetic encoding of latent bioreactive UAAs in live systems. This new class of UAAs enables biospecific reactivity, inaccessible to proteins before, to be precisely introduced into biosystems, opening the door to harnessing covalent chemistry for protein engineering and biological research in vivo. Wang is a Top Young Innovator (by MIT Technology Review), a Basil O'Connor Starter Scholar, a Beckman Young Investigator, a Earle Scholar, an NIH Director's New Innovator Awardee, and a recipient of the Emil Thomas Kaiser Award.
“We expect covalency will become a standard part of the tool box in the field of therapeutic proteins and biologics. We are excited to use this technology to transform drug discovery and provide meaningful therapeutic benefits for patients.”
Sergio Duron, Ph.D.
Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer
Dr. Duron founded Enlaza to pioneer the field of covalent biologics. He has an excellent track record with over 18 years of experience in venture-backed biotech. He also serves as a Managing Partner at Avalon BioVentures and CSO at Nerio Therapeutics. He previously was CSO and co-founder for Calporta Therapeutics (acquired by Merck). He was also Senior Vice President for Sitari Pharmaceuticals (acquired by GSK), Vice President at Afraxis (acquired by Genentech) and Director of Chemistry at Zacharon Pharmaceuticals (acquired by BioMarin). In each of the Avalon portfolio companies with which he has been associated, he has been on the founding management team, directing drug discovery efforts and building efficient and productive teams. Prior to joining the Avalon portfolio companies, Dr. Duron was at Kalypsys, where he worked on multiple drug discovery projects spanning CNS diseases, pain and inflammation, metabolic diseases and oncology.
Dr. Duron completed his post-doctoral training at The Scripps Research Institute after earning his Ph.D. in organic chemistry from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and his B.S. in chemistry from the University of Texas at Austin.
Sanford (Sandy) Madigan, Ph.D.
Co-Founder, President and Chief Business Officer
Dr. Madigan has a strong scientific background and 30 years of experience in corporate financing, operations, business and corporate development, and M&A. Dr. Madigan is a Managing Partner with Avalon BioVentures and previously was a serial entrepreneur for Avalon Ventures portfolio companies. Most recently, Dr. Madigan was co-founder and CEO of Nerio Therapeutics in Avalon XI (acquired by Boehringer-Ingelheim in July, 2024 for up to $1.3B). Previously, Dr. Madigan was the transacting CEO of Calporta Therapeutics in Avalon X (acquired by Merck in November, 2019 for up to $576M).
Dr. Madigan performed his post-doctoral training at The Salk Institute for Biological Studies. He received his Ph.D. in Genetics and his B.S. in Biochemistry from The State University of New York at Stony Brook where, as a graduate student, he was awarded the Abrahams Memorial Award for outstanding potential for basic research.
Analeah Heidt, Ph.D.
Chief Scientific Officer
Dr. Heidt has 15 years of experience in the development of a broad range of biologic therapeutics. Trained in antibody discovery and oncology cell biology, Dr. Heidt joined the Biotherapeutics team at Novartis, where she spent eight years in progressively increasing areas of responsibility in the design and development of biologics. Prior to joining Enlaza Therapeutics, she was the EVP of Translational Research at Inhibrx. In that role she built a dynamic, multi-disciplinary, high-performing team, delivering four successful first-in-human IND applications across a diverse array of oncology, immuno-oncology and orphan disease therapeutics, as well as devising and enabling clinical biomarker strategies.
Dr. Heidt completed her post-doctoral training at The Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation. She received her Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from the University of California, San Francisco as a Howard Hughes Predoctoral fellow, and her B.A. in Biology-Chemistry from Claremont McKenna College.
Sateesh Natarajan, Ph.D.
Senior Vice President, CMC Product Development
Dr. Natarajan has over 20 years of experience in research and development of protein-based therapeutics. Prior to joining Enlaza, he served as the Senior Vice President of CMC Development at Silverback Therapeutics. There he built and led the CMC team to complete the development and external manufacturing of multiple novel antibody-drug conjugates for first-in-human trials. He also served as the Vice President of Product Development at Dr.Reddy’s Laboratories, where he provided strategic and technical leadership to develop processes and analytics for a robust biosimilar pipeline and to guide late-stage assets toward regulatory approvals in emerging and developed market countries. He also led research and development efforts at Dendreon and Trubion to advance novel therapies for oncology and inflammatory disorders.
Dr. Natarajan completed his post-doctoral training at The Johns Hopkins Medical School. He received his Ph.D. in Chemical and Biochemical Engineering from The University of Maryland at Baltimore County and his B.Tech. in Chemical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology in Madras, India.
Danny Beck
Vice President, Business Development
Danny Beck has over 13 years of experience working in the healthcare therapeutics industry, serving in both financial and operational capacities.
Prior to joining Enlaza, he led Business Development and Corporate Strategy at Mirati Therapeutics, where he oversaw multiple successful partnership transactions, including the outlicense of adagrasib’s China rights to Zai Lab ($65M upfront + $237M milestones and royalties) and the outlicense of Mirati’s PRC2/EED/EZH2 inhibitor (now ORIC-944) to ORIC Pharmaceuticals ($20M common stock).
Danny was also the Business Development lead for the company’s $4.8B (up to $5.8B) acquisition by Bristol Myers Squibb in January 2024.
Prior to Mirati, he served as a healthcare investor at both Surveyor Capital (Citadel) and Partner Fund Management (PFM) in San Francisco. Danny began his career as a member of the Investment Banking Group at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, where he advised clients on strategic transactions and debt/equity capital raises.
Danny graduated from the University of Southern California, where he received a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with a core concentration in Finance. He is currently an active member of multiple non-profit organizations in the San Diego area.
Patrick (PJ) Burke, Ph.D.
Vice President, Chemistry
Dr. Burke joined Enlaza Therapeutics in April 2023, bringing over 17 years of experience in drug discovery and development of linker-payloads for antibody-drug conjugates. Following academic training in organic chemistry and targeted drug delivery, he joined Seagen (formerly Seattle Genetics) in 2005 as a postdoctoral research associate and progressed through roles of increasing responsibility to Director of Chemistry. Dr. Burke and his team pursued research on linker chemistry development to expand the scope of conjugatable payloads and the discovery of new chemotypes to extend the reach of ADCs as oncology therapeutics. He was co-inventor on multiple linker-payload technologies for targeted drug delivery applications, contributing to seven first-in-human IND programs.
Dr. Burke completed his postdoctoral training in synthetic organic chemistry at Wayne State University. He earned his Ph.D. in chemistry at the University of Colorado at Boulder on a DOD US Army Breast Cancer Research Program predoctoral fellowship, and his B.S. in chemical engineering from the University of Michigan.
Sandra Lee, Ph.D.
Vice President, Human Resources
Dr. Lee joined Enlaza Therapeutics in October 2024, bringing over 20 years of experience in human resources and extensive experience in biotech and life sciences. Dr. Lee specializes in talent management and leadership and organizational development using her expertise to build high performing and engaging organizations.
Most recently with Genentech, Dr. Lee led human resources for the global Informatics organization and helped navigate through a global reorganization while achieving the #1 ranking from Computerworld Best Places to Work for IT. While at Natera, a genetic testing company, she built supporting infrastructure to manage through a high growth period. Earlier in her career, she led human resources for the global R&D organization at Invitrogen.
Dr. Lee earned her Ph.D. in Industrial-Organizational Psychology from Colorado State University and a B.A. in Psychology from Michigan State University.
Emily Rowell, Ph.D.
Vice President, Pharmacology and Translational Research
Dr. Rowell has 15 years of experience in drug discovery and development with an emphasis on biologic therapeutics for immuno-oncology and oncology. Prior to joining Enlaza, Dr. Rowell was a member of the Cancer Therapeutics team at Novartis, where she served as biology lead on multiple programs. More recently, Dr. Rowell was the Sr. Director of Translational Research at Inhibrx, Inc., where she was responsible for designing and implementing clinical biomarker strategies and generating IND-enabling pharmacology and non-clinical safety data packages.
Dr. Rowell completed her post-doctoral training at The University of Washington School of Medicine. She received her Ph.D. in Immunology from the University of Pennsylvania, and her B.A. in Neuroscience from Colgate University.
Lei Wang, Ph.D.
Scientific Advisor, Professor UCSF
Lei Wang is a Professor in the Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, the Cardiovascular Research Institute, and the Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center at University of California San Francisco. His Ph.D. research at UC Berkeley, mentored by Peter G. Schultz, achieved the first expansion of the genetic code to include unnatural amino acids (UAAs) in 2001, for which he was awarded the Young Scientist Award by the Science magazine. After postdoctoral training with Roger Y. Tsien (Nobel Laureate in Chemistry), Wang started his group at the Salk Institute in 2005, and moved to UCSF in 2014. His group has developed new methods for the expansion of the genetic code in a variety of cells and animals, and has discovered that release factor one is nonessential in E. coli.
Recently, Wang pioneered the concept of proximity-enabled bioreactivity and achieved the genetic encoding of latent bioreactive UAAs in live systems. This new class of UAAs enables biospecific reactivity, inaccessible to proteins before, to be precisely introduced into biosystems, opening the door to harnessing covalent chemistry for protein engineering and biological research in vivo. Wang is a Top Young Innovator (by MIT Technology Review), a Basil O'Connor Starter Scholar, a Beckman Young Investigator, a Earle Scholar, an NIH Director's New Innovator Awardee, and a recipient of the Emil Thomas Kaiser Award.
Stephen Squinto, Ph.D.
Chief Investment Officer, J.P. Morgan Life Sciences Private Capital
Stephen Squinto, Ph.D. is an entrepreneur and biotechnology industry veteran with more than 35 years of experience in drug development. He currently is Chief Investment Officer of J.P. Morgan Life Science Private Capital. Previously, he was an early team member and an early company builder of Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Co-Founder of Alexion Pharmaceuticals, and subsequently an executive partner at OrbiMed Advisors. While building Alexion, Dr. Squinto and his team were responsible for the discovery, development, approval and commercial launch of several life transforming biotechnology products worldwide serving several rare disease patient communities. During his 8 years with OrbiMed, Dr. Squinto served on as many as 20 company boards, co-founded several OrbiMed-financed companies and served as an operating executive of five, including chief executive officer at Passage Bio and Gennao Bio.
Stephen received his B.A. in Chemistry and Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Biophysics from Loyola University of Chicago. He is a recipient of numerous honors and awards from academic and professional organizations for his scientific work. Dr. Squinto previously held various joint academic positions at the Tulane University and LSU Medical Schools.
Jay Lichter, Ph.D.
Managing Director, Avalon Ventures
Jay B. Lichter, Ph.D. is an experienced biotechnology and pharmaceutical business executive and investor with 25 years of experience in management, scientific research, and business development. Throughout his career, Dr. Lichter has applied his exceptional combination of business acumen and deep technical knowledge to creating commercially successful biotech companies and identify the commercial potential of scientific discoveries at their earliest stages. Dr. Lichter was an Avalon entrepreneur for four portfolio companies in Avalon V, Avalon VI and Avalon VII.
During his tenure as a managing director at Avalon, Dr. Lichter led 25 investments. Between Avalon V and VI, Dr. Lichter worked as a licensing executive for Pfizer. Dr. Lichter has executed over $6B in transactions and is the inventor on over 250 patents and patent applications.
Prior to joining Avalon as a Member of Avalon VIII, Dr. Lichter collaborated with Avalon on six investments, starting in 1993 when Dr. Lichter was recruited by Avalon as the first employee and co-founder of Sequana Therapeutics, a portfolio company of Avalon Ventures V, L.P.. In 2000, Avalon recruited Dr. Lichter to be the CEO of XenoPharm, a drug safety company. Dr. Lichter drove the development of the company and its ultimate acquisition by Deltagen. As Sytera’s Vice President of Operations and Business Development, Dr. Lichter held various roles in the company and was the inventor on key enabling intellectual property that led to the company’s acquisition by Sirion Therapeutics.
Upon completion of his Ph.D., Dr. Lichter held postdoctoral positions in Human Genetics at Yale University and at the DuPont Merck Pharmaceutical Company. Dr. Lichter received his B.S. and Ph.D. from the University of Illinois.
James N. Topper, M.D., Ph.D.
Managing Director, Frazier Life Sciences
Dr. Topper is a Managing Partner at Frazier Life Sciences and has led many of the firm’s successful investments, including Acerta Pharma BV (sold to AstraZeneca), Amunix Pharmaceuticals (sold to Sanofi), Calistoga Pharmaceuticals (co-founder, sold to Gilead Sciences), Mavupharma (sold to AbbVie), and Portola Pharmaceuticals (co-founder, sold to Alexion). In addition to Enlaza, he currently represents Frazier on the boards of Alpine Immune Sciences (NASDAQ: ALPN), AnaptysBio (NASDAQ: ANAB), Lassen Therapeutics, NewAmsterdam Pharma (NASDAQ: NAMS), Phathom Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: PHAT), and Seraxis. In addition, Jamie is a board observer for Alcresta Therapeutics. He previously served as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Frazier-sponsored SPAC Frazier Lifesciences Acquisition Corporation.
Prior to joining Frazier, Dr. Topper was the head of cardiovascular R&D at Millennium Pharmaceuticals and ran Millennium San Francisco (formerly COR Therapeutics). Before the merger of COR and Millennium, he served as the Vice President of Biology at COR and was responsible for all research activities. He served on the medical school faculties at Stanford and Harvard Medical School prior to joining COR.
Dr. Topper received his M.D. and Ph.D. in Biophysics from Stanford and holds a B.S. from the University of Michigan. He did his postgraduate training in Internal Medicine and Cardiovascular Disease at the Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. He has authored over 50 publications and was the recipient of a Howard Hughes Scholars Award while on the faculty at Stanford.
Shelley Chu, M.D., Ph.D.
Partner, Lightspeed Venture Partners
Shelley Chu has two decades of venture investing and operating experience in the biopharmaceutical industry. Her passion is working closely with entrepreneurs to navigate scientific, clinical, regulatory, business development and commercial hurdles to bring innovative new medicines to market that address significant unmet medical needs. To date, her investments across all stages, from seed to growth, have led to 7 New Drug Approvals by the FDA, 10 drug candidates in ongoing clinical development, and 17 exits through mergers and acquisitions, IPOs or partnerships. During her time at Gilead, where Shelley led R&D strategy across all therapeutic areas and business development in immuno-oncology and HBV, three NDAs were approved and launched.
At Lightspeed, Shelley leads the firm’s biotech investments from seed to late stage. She is on the board of directors at Enlaza Therapeutics, Abata Therapeutics, Hillevax, 3T Biosciences, Medikine, Triana Biomedicines, Protego Biopharma, Seismic Therapeutics, Immunos as well as an independent director for Scorpion Therapeutics. Shelley previously served on the Boards of Tizona Therapeutics (acquired by Gilead), Trishula Therapeutics (partnered with Abbvie), SFJ Pharmaceuticals, Phathom (Nasdaq: PHAT), Q32 Bio, IFM (acquired by BMS), IFM Tre (acquired by Novartis), IFM Due, IFM Quattro, and Venatorx. Shelley also invested in and worked closely with the management teams of Stromedix (acquired by Biogen), Rempex (acquired by The Medicines Company), Tobira (acquired by Allergan), Anaptys, Marcadia (acquired by Roche), Calixa (acquired by Cubist) and Cerexa (acquired by Forest). Shelley serves on the scientific advisory board for BioCentury.
Shelley holds an M.D. and a Ph.D. in biochemistry and biophysics from the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF) and a B.A. in molecular biology from Princeton University, where she is a co-chair for Princeton ASC.
Marcos Milla, Ph.D.
Venture Partner, Samsara BioCapital
Marcos Milla joined Samsara BioCapital as Venture Partner in April of 2021. He has experience in drug discovery across the areas of autoimmunity and inflammation, neurosciences and pain, and immuno-oncology, directing efforts focused on multiple intracellular and extracellular target classes including cell surface receptors, ion channels, kinases and proteinases. That led to the discovery and development of break-through lead series of small and large molecule modulators, as well as engineered T cells targeting presented antigens. Dr. Milla graduated with a BS degree from Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia (Lima, Peru) in 1985, and a PhD degree in Cell & Molecular Biology from Saint Louis University in 1990. He did post-doctoral training at MIT as a Jane Coffin Childs Fellow (1990-1993), and at Duke University (1993-1995). He was the Chief Scientific Officer of Synthorx from 2017 until its acquisition by Sanofi in January of 2020, when he became Site Head for Sanofi. Previous to that, he held industry and faculty appointments at GlaxoSmithKline (1995-1998), the Perelman School of Medicine of the University of Pennsylvania (1998-2005), Roche Palo Alto (2005-2009), Janssen R&D (2009-2106), and Adaptive Biotechnologies (2016-2017). Since 2018, he also holds an Adjunct Faculty appointment at the Skaags School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences of UCSD.
Sergio Duron, Ph.D.
Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer
Dr. Duron founded Enlaza to pioneer the field of covalent biologics. He has an excellent track record with over 18 years of experience in venture-backed biotech. He also serves as a Managing Partner at Avalon BioVentures and CSO at Nerio Therapeutics. He previously was CSO and co-founder for Calporta Therapeutics (acquired by Merck). He was also Senior Vice President for Sitari Pharmaceuticals (acquired by GSK), Vice President at Afraxis (acquired by Genentech) and Director of Chemistry at Zacharon Pharmaceuticals (acquired by BioMarin). In each of the Avalon portfolio companies with which he has been associated, he has been on the founding management team, directing drug discovery efforts and building efficient and productive teams. Prior to joining the Avalon portfolio companies, Dr. Duron was at Kalypsys, where he worked on multiple drug discovery projects spanning CNS diseases, pain and inflammation, metabolic diseases and oncology.
Dr. Duron completed his post-doctoral training at The Scripps Research Institute after earning his Ph.D. in organic chemistry from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and his B.S. in chemistry from the University of Texas at Austin.
Stephen Squinto, Ph.D.
Chief Investment Officer, J.P. Morgan Life Sciences Private Capital
Stephen Squinto, Ph.D. is an entrepreneur and biotechnology industry veteran with more than 35 years of experience in drug development. He currently is Chief Investment Officer of J.P. Morgan Life Science Private Capital. Previously, he was an early team member and an early company builder of Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Co-Founder of Alexion Pharmaceuticals, and subsequently an executive partner at OrbiMed Advisors. While building Alexion, Dr. Squinto and his team were responsible for the discovery, development, approval and commercial launch of several life transforming biotechnology products worldwide serving several rare disease patient communities. During his 8 years with OrbiMed, Dr. Squinto served on as many as 20 company boards, co-founded several OrbiMed-financed companies and served as an operating executive of five, including chief executive officer at Passage Bio and Gennao Bio.
Stephen received his B.A. in Chemistry and Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Biophysics from Loyola University of Chicago. He is a recipient of numerous honors and awards from academic and professional organizations for his scientific work. Dr. Squinto previously held various joint academic positions at the Tulane University and LSU Medical Schools.
Jay Lichter, Ph.D.
Managing Director, Avalon Ventures
Jay B. Lichter, Ph.D. is an experienced biotechnology and pharmaceutical business executive and investor with 25 years of experience in management, scientific research, and business development. Throughout his career, Dr. Lichter has applied his exceptional combination of business acumen and deep technical knowledge to creating commercially successful biotech companies and identify the commercial potential of scientific discoveries at their earliest stages. Dr. Lichter was an Avalon entrepreneur for four portfolio companies in Avalon V, Avalon VI and Avalon VII.
During his tenure as a managing director at Avalon, Dr. Lichter led 25 investments. Between Avalon V and VI, Dr. Lichter worked as a licensing executive for Pfizer. Dr. Lichter has executed over $6B in transactions and is the inventor on over 250 patents and patent applications.
Prior to joining Avalon as a Member of Avalon VIII, Dr. Lichter collaborated with Avalon on six investments, starting in 1993 when Dr. Lichter was recruited by Avalon as the first employee and co-founder of Sequana Therapeutics, a portfolio company of Avalon Ventures V, L.P.. In 2000, Avalon recruited Dr. Lichter to be the CEO of XenoPharm, a drug safety company. Dr. Lichter drove the development of the company and its ultimate acquisition by Deltagen. As Sytera’s Vice President of Operations and Business Development, Dr. Lichter held various roles in the company and was the inventor on key enabling intellectual property that led to the company’s acquisition by Sirion Therapeutics.
Upon completion of his Ph.D., Dr. Lichter held postdoctoral positions in Human Genetics at Yale University and at the DuPont Merck Pharmaceutical Company. Dr. Lichter received his B.S. and Ph.D. from the University of Illinois.
James N. Topper, M.D., Ph.D.
Managing Director, Frazier Life Sciences
Dr. Topper is a Managing Partner at Frazier Life Sciences and has led many of the firm’s successful investments, including Acerta Pharma BV (sold to AstraZeneca), Amunix Pharmaceuticals (sold to Sanofi), Calistoga Pharmaceuticals (co-founder, sold to Gilead Sciences), Mavupharma (sold to AbbVie), and Portola Pharmaceuticals (co-founder, sold to Alexion). In addition to Enlaza, he currently represents Frazier on the boards of Alpine Immune Sciences (NASDAQ: ALPN), AnaptysBio (NASDAQ: ANAB), Lassen Therapeutics, NewAmsterdam Pharma (NASDAQ: NAMS), Phathom Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: PHAT), and Seraxis. In addition, Jamie is a board observer for Alcresta Therapeutics. He previously served as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Frazier-sponsored SPAC Frazier Lifesciences Acquisition Corporation.
Prior to joining Frazier, Dr. Topper was the head of cardiovascular R&D at Millennium Pharmaceuticals and ran Millennium San Francisco (formerly COR Therapeutics). Before the merger of COR and Millennium, he served as the Vice President of Biology at COR and was responsible for all research activities. He served on the medical school faculties at Stanford and Harvard Medical School prior to joining COR.
Dr. Topper received his M.D. and Ph.D. in Biophysics from Stanford and holds a B.S. from the University of Michigan. He did his postgraduate training in Internal Medicine and Cardiovascular Disease at the Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. He has authored over 50 publications and was the recipient of a Howard Hughes Scholars Award while on the faculty at Stanford.
Shelley Chu, M.D., Ph.D.
Partner, Lightspeed Venture Partners
Shelley Chu has two decades of venture investing and operating experience in the biopharmaceutical industry. Her passion is working closely with entrepreneurs to navigate scientific, clinical, regulatory, business development and commercial hurdles to bring innovative new medicines to market that address significant unmet medical needs. To date, her investments across all stages, from seed to growth, have led to 7 New Drug Approvals by the FDA, 10 drug candidates in ongoing clinical development, and 17 exits through mergers and acquisitions, IPOs or partnerships. During her time at Gilead, where Shelley led R&D strategy across all therapeutic areas and business development in immuno-oncology and HBV, three NDAs were approved and launched.
At Lightspeed, Shelley leads the firm’s biotech investments from seed to late stage. She is on the board of directors at Enlaza Therapeutics, Abata Therapeutics, Hillevax, 3T Biosciences, Medikine, Triana Biomedicines, Protego Biopharma, Seismic Therapeutics, Immunos as well as an independent director for Scorpion Therapeutics. Shelley previously served on the Boards of Tizona Therapeutics (acquired by Gilead), Trishula Therapeutics (partnered with Abbvie), SFJ Pharmaceuticals, Phathom (Nasdaq: PHAT), Q32 Bio, IFM (acquired by BMS), IFM Tre (acquired by Novartis), IFM Due, IFM Quattro, and Venatorx. Shelley also invested in and worked closely with the management teams of Stromedix (acquired by Biogen), Rempex (acquired by The Medicines Company), Tobira (acquired by Allergan), Anaptys, Marcadia (acquired by Roche), Calixa (acquired by Cubist) and Cerexa (acquired by Forest). Shelley serves on the scientific advisory board for BioCentury.
Shelley holds an M.D. and a Ph.D. in biochemistry and biophysics from the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF) and a B.A. in molecular biology from Princeton University, where she is a co-chair for Princeton ASC.
Marcos Milla, Ph.D.
Venture Partner, Samsara BioCapital
Marcos Milla joined Samsara BioCapital as Venture Partner in April of 2021. He has experience in drug discovery across the areas of autoimmunity and inflammation, neurosciences and pain, and immuno-oncology, directing efforts focused on multiple intracellular and extracellular target classes including cell surface receptors, ion channels, kinases and proteinases. That led to the discovery and development of break-through lead series of small and large molecule modulators, as well as engineered T cells targeting presented antigens. Dr. Milla graduated with a BS degree from Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia (Lima, Peru) in 1985, and a PhD degree in Cell & Molecular Biology from Saint Louis University in 1990. He did post-doctoral training at MIT as a Jane Coffin Childs Fellow (1990-1993), and at Duke University (1993-1995). He was the Chief Scientific Officer of Synthorx from 2017 until its acquisition by Sanofi in January of 2020, when he became Site Head for Sanofi. Previous to that, he held industry and faculty appointments at GlaxoSmithKline (1995-1998), the Perelman School of Medicine of the University of Pennsylvania (1998-2005), Roche Palo Alto (2005-2009), Janssen R&D (2009-2106), and Adaptive Biotechnologies (2016-2017). Since 2018, he also holds an Adjunct Faculty appointment at the Skaags School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences of UCSD.
Sergio Duron, Ph.D.
Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer
Dr. Duron founded Enlaza to pioneer the field of covalent biologics. He has an excellent track record with over 18 years of experience in venture-backed biotech. He also serves as a Managing Partner at Avalon BioVentures and CSO at Nerio Therapeutics. He previously was CSO and co-founder for Calporta Therapeutics (acquired by Merck). He was also Senior Vice President for Sitari Pharmaceuticals (acquired by GSK), Vice President at Afraxis (acquired by Genentech) and Director of Chemistry at Zacharon Pharmaceuticals (acquired by BioMarin). In each of the Avalon portfolio companies with which he has been associated, he has been on the founding management team, directing drug discovery efforts and building efficient and productive teams. Prior to joining the Avalon portfolio companies, Dr. Duron was at Kalypsys, where he worked on multiple drug discovery projects spanning CNS diseases, pain and inflammation, metabolic diseases and oncology.
Dr. Duron completed his post-doctoral training at The Scripps Research Institute after earning his Ph.D. in organic chemistry from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and his B.S. in chemistry from the University of Texas at Austin.
J.P. Morgan Private Capital
Frazier Life Sciences
Title
Avalon Ventures
Title
Lightspeed
Title
Samsara
Title
Bregua Corporation
Amgen Ventures
Regeneron Ventures
Pfizer Ventures
Pappas Capital
Alexandria Venture Investments
J.P. Morgan Private Capital
Frazier Life Sciences
Title
Avalon Ventures
Title
Lightspeed
Title
Samsara
Title
Bregua Corporation
Amgen Ventures
Regeneron Ventures
Pfizer Ventures
Pappas Capital
Alexandria Venture Investments
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April 30, 2024
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At Enlaza, we are committed to bringing novel therapies to patients. Reach out to learn more.
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