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
From Network Automation to Agentic NetOps: NetBrain Sets the Standard for Deploying AI in Network Operations29.5.2026 16:00:00 EEST | Press release
NetBrain Technologies, Inc. today announced major new platform features that advance Agentic NetOps from an emerging category to operational reality. NetBrain's clients are already deploying agents that are diagnosing and remediating issues across complex multi-vendor enterprise networks. These new features further extend the platform with new agent tooling, cross-domain context, and open interfaces for the broader agentic enterprise. Early customer outcomes show the magnitude of the shift: A leading health insurer used NetBrain's Deep Diagnosis agent to diagnose and resolve a weeks old VPN connectivity issue in under five minutes. A large manufacturer resolved a critical device issue with a single prompt, isolating the root cause across the network path in under 20 minutes, saving hundreds of hours of engineer time, shrinking MTTR by more than 95%. A global telecommunications firm found NetBrain's context-grounded agents outperformed a stand-alone frontier LLM on a persistent firewall
Adtran resolves long-running patent litigation, reinforcing commitment to defend innovation29.5.2026 15:00:00 EEST | Press release
Adtran today announced it has resolved a patent litigation matter, resulting in a full settlement and dismissal of all claims with prejudice. The case, initiated in 2020 by a non-practicing entity asserting five patents, was transferred to the US District Court for the Northern District of Alabama in 2021 following a successful motion by Adtran. Adtran subsequently filed counterclaims, including bad-faith patent assertion under Alabama statutory law. The settlement includes payment to Adtran to resolve its counterclaims. Terms of the agreement remain confidential. “This outcome reflects a disciplined and consistent approach to protecting our innovation and our customers,” said Justin Ferguson, SVP and general counsel at Adtran. “We take all claims seriously, but we will not hesitate to defend ourselves when assertions lack merit. Situations like this place unnecessary strain on technology providers and divert resources from advancing networks and services. By advancing our counterclaim
Meiji Seika Pharma Invests in GHIC’s Global Health Security Fund29.5.2026 14:00:00 EEST | Press release
Meiji Seika Pharma Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Tokyo, Japan; President and Representative Director: Toshiaki Nagasato) today announced that it has committed to invest in the Global Health Security Fund (GHSF), which is sponsored by Global Health Investment Corporation (GHIC), a New York-based nonprofit organization. Through this investment, Meiji Seika Pharma will support the acceleration of innovations addressing critical global health challenges, including pandemic preparedness and antimicrobial resistance (AMR). GHIC is a mission‑driven nonprofit organization that deploys private investment strategies to generate both global health impact and financial returns. GHIC recently closed its second fund in GHSF. With more than a decade of experience investing in the field of infectious disease, GHIC has contributed to addressing major global health challenges. Its portfolio companies have successfully commercialized more than a dozen products, collectively reaching over 600 million people wo
IFF Enters Into Agreement to Sell Its Food Ingredients Business to CVC29.5.2026 13:50:00 EEST | Press release
IFF (NYSE: IFF), a global leader in flavors, fragrances, food ingredients, and health and biosciences, today announced that it has entered into an agreement to sell its Food Ingredients business to funds advised by CVC Capital Partners, a leading global private markets manager, in a transaction that values the business at approximately $4.3 billion, representing an enterprise value-to-EBITDA multiple of approximately 10x. As part of the transaction, IFF has chosen to retain an approximately 10% minority equity interest in the business, or approximately $200 million, permitting continued collaboration and cooperation between IFF and Food Ingredients and allowing IFF and its shareholders to participate in future value creation under its new ownership. The transaction marks a significant step in IFF’s portfolio transformation and is expected to strengthen the company’s focus on its innovation-driven businesses: Taste, Scent, and Health & Biosciences. Following the transaction, IFF will be
BeOne Medicines Establishes Standard for Long-Term Disease Control in CLL with BRUKINSA 78-Month Data at ASCO 202629.5.2026 13:00:00 EEST | Press release
BeOne Medicines Ltd. (Nasdaq: ONC; HKEX: 06160; SSE: 688235), a global oncology company, is advancing the treatment paradigm in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) at the 2026 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting. With extensive long-term follow-up, the SEQUOIA study of BRUKINSA® (zanubrutinib) reinforces its role as the foundational BTK inhibitor, showing sustained disease control over years of therapy. These findings are further supported by real-world evidence across three large analyses encompassing more than 250,000 patients, underscoring consistent effectiveness and safety in clinical practice. Additionally, BEQALZI™ (sonrotoclax), which was recently approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and its development in combination with BRUKINSA (ZS) highlight the potential for next-generation, time-limited treatment approaches in CLL. Amit Agarwal, M.D., Ph.D., Chief Medical Officer, Hematology, BeOne Medicines, said: “CLL is a disease patients live with
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