Boehringer Ingelheim Partners with Enleofen to Develop First-in-Class Anti-IL-11 Therapies for a Range of Fibrotic Diseases
9.1.2020 15:00:00 EET | Business Wire | Press release
Boehringer Ingelheim and Enleofen Bio Pte. Ltd. (Enleofen) announced today the acquisition of worldwide exclusive rights to Enleofen’s preclinical interleukin-11 (IL-11) platform by Boehringer Ingelheim to develop first-in-class therapies across a broad range of fibro-inflammatory diseases. The new partnership combines Boehringer Ingelheim’s leading expertise and comprehensive pipeline in fibrotic diseases with Enleofen’s world-leading expertise in IL-11 biology and the company’s extensive range of therapeutic antibodies targeting this pathway.
“The impressive preclinical studies at Enleofen have revealed the potential of IL-11 blockade to treat a broad range of diseases,” said Clive R. Wood, Ph.D., Corporate Senior Vice President and Global Head of Discovery Research at Boehringer Ingelheim. “We are excited to have these monoclonal antibodies in our pipeline and have the opportunity to accelerate their path to many patients whose needs are not met by current treatments.”
IL-11 is a cytokine, a protein certain cells of the body use to communicate, and plays a key role in fibro-inflammatory conditions. Blocking IL-11 action has been shown to inhibit disease across many organs (liver, lung, kidney, retina, bowel, heart and skin). In preclinical studies, antibody-based IL-11 antagonists were able to prevent and reverse inflammation and fibrosis, and restore organ function.
Enleofen is a spin out company from the National Heart Centre Singapore (NHCS) at SingHealth and Duke-NUS Medical School under the SingHealth Duke-NUS Academic Medical Centre (AMC), Singapore and exclusively licensed a suite of patents and number of antibody products when it was founded in 2017, from the AMC. Subsequent to this, Enleofen has built an extensive anti-IL-11 antibody platform and advanced its drug development programs towards the clinic. Boehringer Ingelheim will now develop this platform further and plans to work jointly with scientists at the AMC to accelerate the platform into clinical development. The initial focus will be on novel therapies for patients with NASH and ILDs, two of Boehringer Ingelheim’s core disease focus areas, with a potential to expand into further fibro-inflammatory conditions based on IL-11’s central role in disease.
“Enleofen is very excited to engage Boehringer Ingelheim, a leader in anti-fibrotic therapy R&D to develop further anti-IL-11 therapies to begin to address the unmet medical needs of patients worldwide,” said Prof Stuart Cook, Director and co-founder of Enleofen. “The preclinical data across a range of conditions are unprecedented and this new approach of targeting IL-11 could be a game changer”.
The acquisition of the IL-11 program from Enleofen strengthens Boehringer Ingelheim’s pipeline portfolio, which combines approaches that are effective across multiple fibrotic diseases with disease-specific approaches to achieve greater therapeutic effect and builds on the experience gained with nintedanib in fibrotic lung diseases. Boehringer Ingelheim will be solely responsible for the clinical, regulatory and commercial development of the licensed therapies. Under the terms of the agreement, Enleofen may receive earn out payments in excess of one billion USD per product in upfront and success-based development and commercialization milestones.
For references and notes to editors, please visit:
http://www.boehringer-ingelheim.com/press-release/fibrotic-diseases-partnership-enleofen
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/20200109005346/en/
Contact information
Boehringer Ingelheim
Dr. Reinhard Malin
Head of Communications Innovation Unit
Boehringer Ingelheim Corporate Center GmbH
Media + PR
P: +49 6132 77-90815
reinhard.malin@boehringer-ingelheim.com
Linda Ruckel
Associate Director, Media and Corporate Reputation
Boehringer Ingelheim U.S.
Media + PR
P: + 203-791-6672
linda.ruckel@boehringer-ingelheim.com
Enleofen
Charu Srivastava
charu@redhill.asia
+65 91810614
Mariyam Haider
mariyam@redhill.asia
+65 86056752
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
Imagine Dragons to Perform at Abu Dhabi Grand Prix21.5.2026 18:51:00 EEST | Press release
Ethara, organiser of the Formula 1 Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, have announced that one of the world’s biggest bands, Imagine Dragons, will headline the Saturday After-Race Concerts at the F1 Season Finale in Abu Dhabi. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260521214839/en/ Imagine Dragons to perform at Formula 1 Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix (Photo: AETOSWire) The announcement is another landmark moment for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, whose thrilling Yasalam presented by e& fan entertainment offering has become synonymous with the F1 Championship finale in Abu Dhabi and is recognised as one of the most compelling sports and entertainment crossovers globally. The global chart-toppers join Lewis Capaldi and Zara Larsson, who are set to kick off a blockbuster line-up of performances on Yas Island on Thursday, 3 December, with more major international artists to be revealed. With their popular top hits, Ima
Otovo Hits 30,000 Customers in Under a Year, Tackling the Growing ‘Solar Service Crisis’21.5.2026 17:25:00 EEST | Press release
Otovo ASA (“Otovo”), a leading global energy service provider for residential and commercial customers, today announced it has reached 30,000 customers across the U.S. and Europe. A total of 20,000 customers have enrolled in Otovo Care, the Company’s membership-based home and commercial energy service, which is powered by Otovo’s industry-leading AI platform, Endurance™. “Reaching 30,000 customers in less than year is proof positive that home and business owners value their power systems,” said William J. (John) Berger, CEO of Otovo. “The ‘solar service crisis’ that is leaving millions of orphaned energy systems without support is driving strong interest in our Otovo Care membership program. Every day your home or commercial power system is not working, you are throwing money away. Otovo’s rapid response service platform keeps you up and running, ensuring your investment is delivering.” The rapid growth of the residential solar market created a growing population of “orphaned” solar sy
Carnegie Mellon University and Cleveland Clinic Develop AI System to Interpret Cardiac MRI Scans with Enhanced Accuracy21.5.2026 15:05:00 EEST | Press release
A team of researchers from Carnegie Mellon University, in collaboration with Cleveland Clinic’s Cardiovascular Innovation Research Center, has developed an artificial intelligence (AI) system capable of interpreting some of the most complex heart scans in medicine, cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), without the need for manually labeled training data. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260521762286/en/ A team of researchers from Carnegie Mellon University, in collaboration with Cleveland Clinic’s Cardiovascular Innovation Research Center, has developed an artificial intelligence (AI) system capable of interpreting some of the most complex heart scans in medicine, cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), without the need for manually labeled training data. The novel system, called CMR-CLIP, is designed to interpret cardiac MRI scans by connecting moving images of the heart with corresponding clinical radio
The Live Moment Effect: Genius Sports and MediaScience Study Finds Specific Moments in Live Sports Can Double Unaided Brand Recall21.5.2026 15:00:00 EEST | Press release
Genius Sports Limited (NYSE: GENI), a global leader in real-time sports data, today released new biometric research conducted with MediaScience showing that ads delivered immediately after emotionally heightened moments in live sports can double unaided brand recall. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260521475265/en/ The Live Moment Effect report from Genius Sports and MediaScience. The study, The Live Moment Effect, finds that advertising effectiveness is significantly influenced by a viewer’s emotional state immediately before an ad is shown. In controlled biometric testing, ads shown after high-intensity sporting moments, such as near-scoring plays or crucial momentum shifts, delivered approximately double the unaided brand recall of baseline conditions. The Moment Before the Ad Matters The research challenges long-held assumptions about media value, showing that not all impressions are equal. Live sports rem
Merck Announces First Patient Dosed in Phase 3 Study for Investigational Antibody-Drug Conjugate in Colorectal Cancer21.5.2026 15:00:00 EEST | Press release
Merck, a leading science and technology company, today announced that the first patient has been dosed in the Phase 3 PROCEADE®-CRC-03 trial (NCT07549412). The study is evaluating precemtabart tocentecan (Precem‑TcT), a potential first‑in‑class investigational anti‑CEACAM5 antibody‑drug conjugate (ADC), for the treatment of metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC). “Leveraging our novel payload‑linker technology, Precem‑TcT is the first CEACAM5‑targeted ADC in clinical studies with an exatecan payload, rationally designed for stability and enhanced cancer cell killing activity,” said David Weinreich, MD, MBA, Global Head of R&D and Chief Medical Officer for the Healthcare business of Merck. “The Phase 3 study and the enrollment of the first patient with Precem-TcT build on the Company’s more than 20 years of expertise in colorectal cancer, and highlight our commitment to advancing differentiated ADCs for heavily pretreated patients with limited treatment options.” The PROCEADE®-CRC-03 study
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