Pfizer has followed Eli Lilly into the Sec61 space, inking a $500 million deal with Enodia Therapeutics a week after its Big Pharma peer formed an $870 million pact with Gate Bioscience.
Like Gate, Enodia is targeting the Sec61 channel to stop disease-driving proteins from reaching the cell surface, leading to their degradation. By selectively blocking the channel, the companies aim to stop diseases at the source, rather than by neutralizing proteins once they are already doing damage. Scientists have studied the channel for years but have struggled to design safe inhibitors.
Pfizer sees promise in Enodia’s efforts to overcome the challenges. Through a research collaboration and license agreement, Enodia will use its platform to discover and develop Sec61 inhibitors against multiple collaboration targets, with Pfizer then responsible for clinical, manufacturing, regulatory and commercial activities.
The deal features an undisclosed upfront fee plus R&D and sales milestones that could swell the pact’s total value to more than $500 million. Enodia is also in line to receive tiered royalties on net sales.
Enodia disclosed the alliance the week after Gate unveiled a pact with Eli Lilly. The Gate agreement, Lilly’s second agreement with the biotech, covers an undisclosed target and includes an option on a second target.
Neither Enodia nor Gate has disclosed the therapeutic areas covered by their deals. Sec61 inhibition is applicable to a range of indications. Kezar Life Sciences, which Aurinia Pharmaceuticals recently bought for about $50 million, showed safe Sec61 inhibition is possible in a phase 1 solid tumor trial. A Chinese team recently published preclinical data on its efforts to safely treat cancer by targeting Sec61.
In March, Enodia paid Kezar $1 million upfront for a Sec61 inhibitor designed to selectively block PD-1 expression. The Kezar program has oncology applications, but Enodia’s interests extend beyond cancer to include inflammation and immunology. Caroline Demangel, Ph.D., the Institut Pasteur scientist who co-founded Enodia, published a paper last month on targeting Sec61 to treat AL amyloidosis.
Demangel authored a series of papers on the natural Sec61 inhibitor mycolactone, leading to the launch of Enodia last year. In January, Pfizer Ventures co-led a 20.7 million euros ($23.2 million) seed investment in Enodia.
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