enGene Appoints James C. Sullivan, PhD as Chief Scientific Officer

enGene Inc., a clinical-stage biotechnology company pioneering novel non-viral gene therapies for local administration into mucosal tissues enabled by its proprietary DDX platform, today announced the appointment of James C. Sullivan, PhD, as its Chief Scientific Officer (CSO). In his role as CSO, Dr. Sullivan will lead research and development efforts that focus on new ways to expand the use of the company’s gene therapy platform and assets.

Dr. Sullivan’s experience includes end-to-end drug development across multiple therapeutic modalities and IND and s/NDA filings. He has co-authored over 30 peer-reviewed publications.

“I have been very impressed with the entire enGene team and its platform technology,” stated Dr. Sullivan. “I believe that I am joining the organization at an incredibly momentous time in its history. By leveraging our unique platform, we are capable of creating so many opportunities for meaningful gene therapies that will benefit patients’ lives around the globe. The tremendous potential of our pipeline and technology, combined with the compelling clinical results of enGene’s NMIBC trial, has firmly positioned us to develop first-and best-in-class therapies.”

Dr. Sullivan joins enGene from Translate Bio, a Sanofi company, following its $3.2 billion acquisition in 2021, as Senior Vice President, Head of Pulmonary Discovery where he assisted in the development and advancement of mRNA therapeutics across rare and common diseases. Dr. Sullivan was also an Executive Director focused on cell and gene therapy at Sana Biotehnology, responsible for building the translational science function and build-out for clinical trial design and PK/PD biomarker development for gene therapy programs.  At Vertex Pharmaceuticals, he was an s/NDA team member for several innovative products, including, Kalydeco^®, Orkambi^®, Symdeko^®, Incivek^®, as well the first-ever CRISPR-based gene editing therapeutic product for the treatment of certain hemoglobinopathies. Dr. Sullivan obtained his PhD in Biology at Boston University.

“We are remarkably excited to welcome James to the enGene team,” said Jason Hanson, Chief Executive Officer at enGene. “James is joining enGene at a pivotal time as we continue to see strong results emerge from our Phase 1/2 registrational study for Non-Muscle Invasive Bladder Cancer (NMIBC). He brings an extensive range of expertise that spans basic research and clinical development, along with a robust track record of developing and executing innovative strategies that have realised significant impacts on patients’ lives. We look forward to his scientific expertise as we grow our portfolio of genetic medicines for mucosal tissues and expand the clinical development repertoire of EG-70 for difficult-to-treat cancers.”