New Chair at Enhanced Genomics to drive growth strategy
Dr. Stephan will lead the management team in driving the expansion of Enhanced Genomics’ internal target identification pipeline for common diseases, with an initial focus on autoimmune indications, and establishing strategic partnerships to expedite drug discovery, development, and stratification of clinical trial cohorts based on multi-omic signatures.
Dr. Stephan is an experienced biotechnology industry leader with a proven track record in scaling, financing, and leading companies. He has held multiple C-level and board roles, overseen successful exits and acquisitions, and played a central role in developing over two dozen private and public biotech companies, several of which went on to achieve billion-dollar valuations.
Dr. Stephan has also led world-leading high-throughput genomic infrastructure programs, such as the neuroscience genomics consortium at the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH), which have illuminated the genetic drivers of hundreds of diseases and contributed to the development of technologies for identifying genetic variants in both rare and common diseases.
Using its proprietary 3D multi-omics platform and cell type-specific atlas, Enhanced is connecting genetic variants in ‘gene deserts’ to disease-driving genes in the most relevant cell types.
The company’s approach enables the identification of novel disease targets with strong genetic evidence of causality, increasing the probability of success in the pharmaceutical development process. This platform outputs these high confidence targets in a fraction of the time and cost previously possible.
Dr. Stephan said: “Until today, most of the common disease-associated genomics data generated over the last two decades has not been translated into causal biology. Enhanced Genomics’ 3D single cell-type multi-omics platform is uniquely capable of translating these massive amounts of disease-associated data into actionable insights, to enable the rapid identification of novel therapeutic targets with blockbuster potential.”
“The Company is also poised to deliver multi-omics signatures that stratify patients for more effective and efficient trials and, together with its target identification capabilities, is unlocking a new era in drug discovery and development for common diseases.”
Joanna Smart, Investor Director, BGF, added: “We are very pleased to welcome Dr. Stephan as Chair for our portfolio company, Enhanced Genomics. Enhanced’s 3D multi-omics platform has the potential to build on decades of genomics research to deliver high-value assets.
“Multi-omics is the next emerging frontier of the genomics revolution, promising to unlock almost two decades of genomics insights from the global community to benefit those suffering from a wide range of prevalent diseases — and Enhanced is leading the way. Dietrich’s expertise in high-throughput genomics, combined with company building experience, will be invaluable as we drive the company forward through this next phase.”