Boehringer Ingelheim and Enara Bio Enter Strategic Collaboration and Licensing Agreement to Discover Novel Shared Antigens for Cancer Immunotherapies
12.1.2021 12:00:00 EET | Business Wire | Press release
Boehringer Ingelheim and Enara Bio, today announced that they have entered into a strategic collaboration and licensing agreement to research and develop novel targeted cancer immunotherapies, leveraging Enara Bio’s Dark Antigen™ discovery platform. This new collaboration combines Boehringer Ingelheim’s approach to tackle 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.
“We are excited to partner with Enara Bio as part of our mission to bring transformative new treatments to cancer patients,” said Jonathon Sedgwick, Ph.D., Senior Vice President and Global Head, Cancer Immunology & Immune Modulation Research, Boehringer Ingelheim. “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 characterize 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.”
Enara Bio’s proprietary Dark Antigen Platform Technology (EDAPT™) will be used to discover and validate novel Dark Antigens in up to three tumor types in the lung and gastrointestinal cancer space. The discovery of shared antigens could lead to the development of vaccines that can be readily utilized to help a broader group of cancer patients.
Dark Antigens represent a new class of cancer-associated antigens that derive from the genomic dark matter, or the portion of the human genome that is normally not expressed as protein. Dark Antigen-encoding sequences are usually silenced in healthy cells but are activated and presented on tumor cells. They are associated with specific cancer types and, importantly, are shared across patients. Since typically not visible to the immune system, they represent a large potential repertoire of novel antigens that can be developed as targets for new immunotherapies.
“We are extremely pleased to enter this strategic licensing agreement, our first major deal leveraging our pioneering Dark Antigen discovery and validation capabilities,” said Kevin Pojasek, President and CEO of Enara Bio. “Boehringer Ingelheim is an innovation-led company dedicated to producing breakthrough treatments with a significant focus on cancer. We are excited to build this relationship and are encouraged that Boehringer Ingelheim shares our view of the potential of Dark Antigens to be a source of important and unconventional targets for novel cancer immunotherapies. This agreement provides strong validation for our science and our approach to exploiting the cancer-associated antigenic repertoire derived from genomic dark matter and we look forward to a productive collaboration.”
This collaboration with Enara Bio is the latest of several strategic partnerships and acquisitions for Boehringer Ingelheim to build its cancer vaccine platform and provides important validation for Enara Bio’s Dark Antigen platform. The past acquisitions of ViraTherapeutics and AMAL Therapeutics’ vaccine modalities coupled with Enara Bio’s capabilities position Boehringer Ingelheim to develop sophisticated virus and vaccine modalities for its prime/boost vaccine platform.
Under the 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 commercialization 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/preclinical milestones and licensing fees for each tumor type that is explored. Enara Bio is also eligible to receive more than EUR 876 million in clinical, regulatory and commercial milestones, in addition to royalties on future product sales.
Please click on the following link for ‘Notes to Editors’:
http://www.boehringer-ingelheim.com/press-release/strategic-collaboration-enarabio
To view this piece of content from cts.businesswire.com, please give your consent at the top of this page.
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210112005444/en/
Contact information
Media Contacts
Boehringer Ingelheim
Dr. Reinhard Malin
Head of Communications Innovation Unit
Boehringer Ingelheim Corporate Center GmbH
Media + PR
P: 49 6132 77-90815
press@boehringer-ingelheim.com
Linda Ruckel
Senior Associate Director, Media and Corporate Reputation
Boehringer Ingelheim U.S.
Media + PR
P: 203-791-6672
press@boehringer-ingelheim.com
Enara Bio
Enara Bio Limited
Kevin Pojasek, CEO
P: +44(0)1865 504 994
info@enarabio.com
Citigate Dewe Rogerson
Mark Swallow, Frazer Hall, Nathaniel Dahan
P: +44 (0)20 7638 9571
enarabio@citigatedewerogerson.com
About Business Wire
For more than 50 years, Business Wire has been the global leader in press release distribution and regulatory disclosure.
Subscribe to releases from Business Wire
Subscribe to all the latest releases from Business Wire by registering your e-mail address below. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Latest releases from Business Wire
Venture Global and ConocoPhillips Announce 20-Year LNG Sales and Purchase Agreement1.10.2026 23:30:00 EEST | Press release
Today, Venture Global, Inc. (NYSE: VG) and ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP) announced a new, long-term Sales and Purchase Agreement (SPA) for liquefied natural gas (LNG). Under the SPA, ConocoPhillips will buy 1.0 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) of LNG from Venture Global for 20 years, starting in 2030. "Venture Global is proud to welcome ConocoPhillips, one of the world's leading energy companies, as a long-term partner," said Venture Global CEO Mike Sabel. "This agreement reflects continued market confidence in our proven ability to deliver reliable, low-cost U.S. LNG quickly and at scale. We look forward to supporting ConocoPhillips' growing global LNG portfolio for decades to come." About Venture Global Venture Global is an American producer and exporter of low-cost U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) with over 100 MTPA of capacity in production, construction, or development. Venture Global began producing LNG from its first facility in 2022 and is now one of the largest LNG exporters in th
UL Solutions Inc. Completes Acquisition of Eurofins Scientific’s Electrical & Electronics Business1.10.2026 23:05:00 EEST | Press release
UL Solutions Inc. (NYSE: ULS), a global leader in applied safety science, today announced it has completed the acquisition of the electrical and electronics (E&E) business of Eurofins Scientific SE. “This acquisition extends our 132-year commitment to our mission of working for a safer world,” said President and CEO Jennifer Scanlon. “We are thrilled to welcome our new colleagues to UL Solutions. By bringing together complementary expertise and capabilities, we are expanding our global footprint, enhancing our TIC services for electrical safety and connected products, and adding services that support customers around the world.” Eurofins’ E&E business provides testing, compliance and certification services that support global market access for electromagnetic compatibility and wireless testing, electrical safety, medical devices and other technologies. The acquisition adds laboratories and accreditations in EMEA, Asia and the United States to UL Solutions’ global network. About UL Solu
Barnes Aerospace Acquires ATL Turbine Services, Establishing First Aeroengine Component Repair Operation in Europe1.10.2026 21:50:00 EEST | Press release
Barnes Aerospace, a global provider of component engineering, manufacturing and repair solutions for the aerospace industry, today announced the acquisition of ATL Turbine Services Ltd. ("ATL Turbine Services"), a Dundee, Scotland-based specialist in the refurbishment and repair of hot-section gas turbine components, marking Barnes Aerospace's first dedicated component repair and overhaul presence in Europe. The acquisition establishes Barnes Aerospace's initial Component Repair and Overhaul (CRO) footprint in Europe, expanding the company's aftermarket presence and strengthening its ability to serve customers in the region. ATL Turbine Services brings established in-region repair, assessment, coating, and engineering capabilities that complement Barnes Aerospace's existing global repair network and broaden the company's ability to support customers throughout the turbine engine component lifecycle. "Establishing our Component Repair and Overhaul presence in Europe is an important part
Netmore Named Smart Company of the Year at the Premios iAgua 20261.10.2026 20:00:00 EEST | Press release
Netmore Group, the leading network operator and platform provider for Massive IoT, today announced it has been named Empresa Smart del Año — Smart Company of the Year — at the Premios iAgua 2026, the awards of iAgua, the Spanish-speaking water sector's leading media platform. The award was presented at the closing gala of the Spain Smart Water Summit, held at the Meliá Avenida América in Madrid. The award recognises a company that has taken an unusual route into water. Netmore is not a technology firm that added connectivity to its portfolio: it is a network operator that decided to specialise in the water cycle. In eighteen months, it has completed four acquisitions and become the world's largest LoRaWAN® network operator, with more than eighteen million IoT devices under contract across more than fifty countries. Its commitment to Spain took concrete form with the acquisition of Arson Metering, the Bilbao-based remote reading specialist, which brings a portfolio of more than 500,000
Elliptic Sets the Engineering Bar for On-Chain Risk With “Built for Compliance” Paper as New Rules Take Hold and Banks Launch a Joint Stablecoin1.10.2026 16:40:00 EEST | Press release
Elliptic, the global leader in on-chain risk management, today published Built for compliance, a paper setting out the nine engineering decisions that determine whether an on-chain risk system can support fast, accurate and defensible compliance decisions at agentic scale. Machines are already moving money on their own, at machine speed. Compliance teams now have to make hundreds of thousands of decisions a day, at that same speed. However, many on-chain risk systems were never engineered to support that pace. A compliance system that computes exposure on a schedule delivers stale results. One that defines blockchain coverage loosely enough lets a screening miss exposure entirely. A system that skips testing disaster recovery, a spike or an outage, takes down the customer’s compliance system too. That gap between machine speed and system design is exactly what regulators are now closing. As US regulators put together market-structure regulation, the GENIUS Act's stablecoin rules take h
In our pressroom you can read all our latest releases, find our press contacts, images, documents and other relevant information about us.
Visit our pressroom