Terns Pharmaceuticals Appoints Melita Sun Jung as Chief Business Officer

FOSTER CITY, Calif., April 10, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Terns Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (“Terns” or the “Company”) (Nasdaq: TERN), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing a portfolio of small-molecule product candidates to address serious diseases, including oncology and obesity, today announced the appointment of Melita Sun Jung as chief business officer, effective April 22, 2024.

“We are excited to welcome Melita to the Terns leadership team at a critical stage of growth at the company,” said Amy Burroughs, chief executive officer of Terns. “With multiple upcoming key milestones across the oncology and metabolic pipeline, including data readouts from our Phase 1 studies of TERN-701 in CML and TERN-601 in obesity, Melita’s expertise in driving valuable partnerships, strategic decisions and commercial positioning will be instrumental as we propel our programs to mid- and late-stage development.”

“I am inspired by Terns’ corporate and clinical programs as well as the immense potential of its small molecule therapeutics to change people’s lives,” said Ms. Jung. “With several near-term data readouts and a strong balance sheet, Terns is poised for continued success. I’m thrilled to work with Amy and the Terns team to build value and steer the company through this exciting next chapter.”

Ms. Jung joins Terns with more than 20 years of experience in the life sciences industry, leading corporate strategy and business development, commercial planning and execution, financings and investment management. Most recently, she served as chief business officer at Structure Therapeutics, where she was responsible for the company’s business strategy, partnering initiatives, commercial planning, corporate branding and communications. She was part of the executive team that completed Structure’s initial public offering (IPO) of approximately $185 million, the first sizeable biotech IPO of 2023. Previously, Ms. Jung served as senior vice president and head of business development at Sangamo Therapeutics, a genomic medicines company. There she led collaboration and licensing deals with a combined potential value exceeding $6 billion and upfront payments of more than $500 million from broad strategic partnerships with Pfizer, Kite (a Gilead company), Biogen and Novartis.