Meet Dajun Yang

Dajun co-founded Ascentage Pharma in 2009 and has spent more than 30 years working in oncology, apoptosis pathways, and innovative drug development. Under his leadership, Ascentage has advanced a pipeline of small molecule cancer therapies with global first- and best-in-class potential, including olverembatinib, the first third-generation BCR-ABL tyrosine kinase inhibitor approved in China for chronic myeloid leukemia.

In July 2025, Ascentage secured approval in China for lisaftoclax in chronic lymphocytic leukemia and small lymphocytic lymphoma, making it only the second Bcl-2 inhibitor approved anywhere in the world since venetoclax in 2016. Dajun is now leading several global Phase 3 programs, including studies of olverembatinib and lisaftoclax across hematologic cancers and solid tumors, while also advancing newer approaches such as targeted protein degradation.

“The boundary between small molecules and biologics will become obsolete, so that the modality divide will no longer exist. Protein degraders, molecular glues, and other next-generation small molecule technologies are already reaching targets and mechanisms that were previously the exclusive domain of antibodies and cell therapies. In 10 years, I expect the choice of therapeutic modality to be dictated entirely by the biology of the problem rather than by historical convention or the limitations of prior technology.”