Enara Bio raises $32.5 million Series B financing to advance first-in-class pipeline of TCR-based immunotherapies targeting novel Dark Antigens®

Press release

Oxford, UK – October 03, 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® Platform

Enara 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 Bio

Enara 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 Ventures

Pfizer 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 Ventures

M 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.

Contacts

Kevin Pojasek, President & CEO
info@enarabio.com

Frazer Hall, Mark Swallow
MEDiSTRAVA
enarabio@medistrava.com