About us

Our name, Enara Bio®, is derived from an Arabic word meaning illumination, enlightenment and bringing light into the darkness.

We are the leaders in discovering and validating Dark Antigens®, a rich source of novel cancer targets derived from areas of the genome previously considered to be ‘dark’ or non-coding. Through our proprietary EnTiCE® platform, we are developing first-in-class bispecific T-cell engagers against novel targets to improve treatment outcomes for broad populations of cancer patients.

Enara Bio is backed by prominent life science investors, including RA Capital, Pfizer Ventures, M Ventures, Samsara BioCapital and SV Health Investors. We collaborate with world-leading companies and academic institutions, such as Boehringer Ingelheim and the Francis Crick Institute, to help drive our differentiated science-led approach.

Enara Bio Our Story Poster

Leadership Team

Kevin Pojasek
President and CEO
David Watson
Chief Operating Officer
Sophie Papa
Chief Medical Officer and Head of Translational Science
Joseph Dukes
Chief Scientific Officer
Stacey Davis
Chief Business Officer and Chief Financial Officer

Board of Directors

Scientific Advisors & Founders

Investors

Erik Rutjens

Vice President, Cell Therapy Operations

Erik joined Enara Bio in 2020 bringing over 12 years of experience and leadership in cell therapy CMC.

Erik spent 7.5 years at Novartis Cell and Gene, where he was most recently Global Head of Enabling Technologies and Process Engineering, focusing on automation of cell therapy platforms. Before this, he was responsible for analytical development and quality control for Novartis’ cell and gene therapy portfolio. As part of the global CMC team he was instrumental in the clinical development and commercialization of Kymriah, the world’s first commercialized CAR-T therapeutic. Prior to joining Novartis in 2013, he held various development and quality positions at PharmaCell, now part of the Lonza tell therapy CMO business, and before that, a discovery research role at Dyax in Liege, Belgium.

Erik holds an MSc in Biopharmaceutical sciences from Leiden University in the Netherlands and has a PhD in Medicine (immunology) from the University of Leiden, for which he performed his research at the Biomedical Primate Research Centre in Rijswijk, The Netherlands, and University Hospital of Genoa, Italy.