Enara Bio raises $32.5 million Series B financing to advance first-in-class pipeline of TCR-based immunotherapies targeting novel Dark Antigens®
2024年10月3日 - 4:00PM
- New investors Pfizer Ventures and M
Ventures co-led the financing, with participation from all existing
investors including RA Capital, Samsara BioCapital and SV Health
Investors
- Enara Bio’s EDAPT® platform is
pioneering the discovery of Dark Antigens® – a novel class of
shared cancer antigens – and fuelling a pipeline of TCR-based
immunotherapies that can unlock the transformational benefit of
immunotherapy for more solid tumor patients
- New financing allows Enara to rapidly
advance these first-in-class therapies towards the clinic
Oxford, United Kingdom – October 3, 2024.
Enara Bio today announces the closing of a $32.5
million Series B financing supported by a strong syndicate of new
and existing biotech investors. The round was co-led by new
investors, Pfizer Ventures and M Ventures, with participation from
all existing investors including RA Capital, Samsara BioCapital and
SV Health Investors. The Francis Crick Institute is also joining
the round as a new investor. Enara Bio will use the proceeds to
advance its pipeline of TCR-based immunotherapies against novel and
differentiated Dark Antigen targets for solid tumors.
“We are delighted to have the backing of these sophisticated
investors as we strive to develop novel immunotherapies that can
provide durable clinical benefit for broad populations of cancer
patients,” said Kevin Pojasek, Ph.D., President & Chief
Executive Officer of Enara Bio. “Earlier this year, our
EDAPT platform received strong external validation when Boehringer
Ingelheim decided to exercise its option to license multiple Dark
Antigens to develop off-the-shelf immunotherapies for lung cancer.
The fundraise we are announcing today, led by two new strategic
investors, reflects the quality of our science and further
underlines not only the groundbreaking potential of Dark Antigens,
but also our internal pipeline of first-in-class
immunotherapies.”
In connection with the financing, Enara Bio’s Board of Directors
has been strengthened by the appointments of Rana Al-Hallaq,
Partner at Pfizer Ventures, and Bauke Anninga, Investment Director
at M Ventures.
“Despite major breakthroughs in cancer immunotherapy over the
last decade, only a minority of patients with solid tumors receive
durable benefit from existing treatments,” commented Rana
Al-Hallaq, Ph.D., Partner at Pfizer Ventures. “Dark
Antigens may unlock the potential of immunotherapy for many
additional patients with solid tumors, and we are pleased to
support Enara’s development of this cutting-edge platform to
discover and validate these previously untapped targets.”
Bauke Anninga, Ph.D., Investment Director at M
Ventures, said: “We are pleased to co-lead this funding
round as Enara’s EDAPT platform has already discovered a series of
attractive Dark Antigen targets that are shared across solid tumor
patients with high unmet needs. We have been impressed by Enara’s
high caliber team and world-class expertise in developing TCR-based
therapies. We are excited at the progress already made building a
pipeline of differentiated therapies that could provide
transformational clinical benefit to patients who are poorly served
by today’s cancer immunotherapies.”
About Dark Antigens® Dark Antigens are a rich
source of novel cancer-specific targets derived from regions of the
genome that were historically considered to be ‘dark’ or
non-coding, known as the genomic dark matter. While usually
silenced in healthy cells, altered cellular processes in cancer
cells lead to the transcription of Dark Antigen-encoding sequences
and presentation of novel peptide antigens on the surface of tumor
cells. Dark Antigens can be found in all major solid tumors,
irrespective of the immune phenotype of the tumor, and they are
often expressed at high prevalence across multiple tumor types.
Enara’s EDAPT platform has enabled the discovery of Dark Antigens
that have the hallmarks of best-in-class T cell antigens, including
tumor-specific expression, robust presentation on the surface of
tumor cells, and homogenous expression within tumors.
About EDAPT® PlatformEnara Bio has developed a
platform called EDAPT to pioneer the discovery and validation of
Dark Antigen targets for the development of cancer immunotherapies.
EDAPT combines de novo bioinformatics databases with cutting-edge
immunopeptidomics of tumor and healthy tissues alongside RNA in
situ hybridization. This integrated approach enables Enara to
confirm robust presentation of Dark Antigens on the surface of
human tumor cells, validate their cancer-specificity, and
demonstrate homogenous intratumoral expression.
For more information on Dark Antigens and the EDAPT platform,
visit: https://enarabio.com/technology.
About Enara BioEnara Bio is shining a light on
Dark Antigen® and T-cell biology to develop cancer immunotherapies
designed to improve treatment outcomes for broad populations of
cancer patients. Our pioneering EDAPT® platform enables us to
discover cancer-specific antigens from previously uncharted genomic
‘dark matter’. The result is a growing library of Dark Antigens
that can address the need for novel, cancer-specific targets in
solid tumors. Our internal focus is developing TCR-directed
immunotherapies against Dark Antigen targets that are highly
prevalent and homogenously expressed across solid tumors. Our
partner, Boehringer Ingelheim, is combining multiple Dark Antigens
to create off-the-shelf therapeutic cancer vaccines. Based in
Oxford, UK, Enara Bio is backed by a strong syndicate of life
science investors including RA Capital, Pfizer Ventures, M
Ventures, Samsara BioCapital and SV Health Investors. For more
information, visit: www.enarabio.com.
About Pfizer VenturesPfizer Ventures (PV), the
venture capital arm of Pfizer Inc., was founded in 2004 and invests
for return in areas of current or future strategic interest to
Pfizer. PV seeks to remain at the forefront of life science
advances, looking to identify and invest in emerging companies that
are developing transformative medicines and technologies that have
the potential to enhance Pfizer’s pipeline and shape the future of
our industry. For more information, visit:
www.pfizerventures.com.
About M VenturesM Ventures is the strategic,
corporate venture capital fund of science and technology company
Merck. From its headquarters in the Netherlands and offices in
Germany, USA and Israel, M Ventures invests globally in
transformational ideas driven by innovative entrepreneurs. Taking
an active role in its portfolio companies, M Ventures teams up with
management teams and co-investors to translate scientific
discoveries into commercial success. M Ventures focuses on
identifying and financing novel solutions to some of the most
difficult challenges, through company creation and equity
investments in fields that will impact the vitality and
sustainability of Merck's current and future businesses. For more
information, visit: www.m-ventures.com.
ContactsKevin Pojasek, President &
CEOinfo@enarabio.com
Frazer Hall, Mark SwallowMEDiSTRAVA enarabio@medistrava.com