Boehringer Ingelheim and Enara Bio to collaborate on cancer immunotherapies
pharmafile | January 12, 2021 | News story | Manufacturing and Production | Boehringer Ingelheim, Cancer, Enara Bio
Boehringer Ingelheim and Enara Bio have entered into a strategic collaboration and licensing agreement to research and develop novel targeted cancer immunotherapies.
The collaboration combines Boehringer Ingelheim’s approach to tackling cancer through pairing leading science with innovative immune-oncology platforms – such as oncolytic viruses and cancer vaccines – with Enara Bio’s expertise in cancer antigen identification. The aim is to provide potential new therapies for patients with difficult-to-treat lung and gastrointestinal cancers.
Enara Bio’s proprietary Dark Antigen Platform Technology (EDAPT) will be used to discover and validate novel Dark Antigens in up to three tumour types in the lung and gastrointestinal cancer space. The discovery of shared antigens could lead to the development of vaccines that can be readily utilised to help a broader group of cancer patients.
Under the companies’ agreement, Boehringer Ingelheim has the option to license Dark Antigens discovered and validated by Enara Bio. Boehringer Ingelheim will also be responsible for all non-clinical and clinical development, as well as commercialisation of associated cancer immunotherapies, including therapeutic vaccines and T-cell redirecting biologics. Enara Bio retains rights to use any discovered antigens for use in cell therapy-based products.
Enara Bio is eligible to receive an upfront payment, together with research milestones and licensing fees for each tumour type that is explored. Enara Bio is also eligible to receive more than €876 million in clinical, regulatory and commercial milestones, in addition to royalties on future product sales.
Jonathon Sedgwick, Senior Vice President and Global Head of Cancer Immunology and Immune Modulation Research at Boehringer Ingelheim, said: “We are excited to partner with Enara Bio as part of our mission to bring transformative new treatments to cancer patients. We are advancing a unique pipeline of cancer cell-directed agents, immuno-oncology therapies and intelligent combination approaches to help combat cancer.
“Enara Bio’s unique discovery platform offers a novel and highly differentiated approach that will allow us to look beyond the known proteome to identify and characterise Dark Antigens to support the development of T-Cell Receptor (TCR)-directed immunotherapies and therapeutic vaccines. We believe this is a highly innovative and promising approach to the development of the next wave of cancer immunotherapies.”
Darcy Jimenez
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