Enlaza raises $100M to lock up ‘irreversible’ protein binding

2024-04-30

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Biologics have revolutionised how cancer and autoimmune diseases are treated, but systemic protein-based treatments still often struggle to find a balance between efficacy and safety. Enlaza Therapeutics’ solution is to turn biologics into “warheads” that can lock on to disease-related targets – permanently.

The company scored a $100-million series A on Tuesday to advance its vision of irreversible protein binding, a little over a year after Enlaza made its $61-million debut in late 2022. The fresh round was led by JP Morgan’s new Life Sciences Private Capital division, with participation from existing investors Frazier Life Sciences, Avalon Ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and Samsara BioCapital, as well as new investors Amgen Ventures, Regeneron Ventures, Bregua Corporation, Pappas Capital, and Alexandria Venture Investments.

According to Enlanza, because standard protein drug binding – such as for monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) – is reversible and can’t be easily directed to diseased areas, “dosing must be long-lasting or continuous to compete with the inherent off-rate of the interaction, leading to sustained exposure to healthy tissue,” narrowing biologics’ therapeutic window.

To make that reversible binding irreversible, the biotech’s synthetic biology War-Lock platform is designed to add unnatural amino acids to “virtually any” protein drug, enabling them to form covalent bonds with their target. Through sustained binding, War-Lock is intended to boost a drug’s biologic effect without the need for long-term systemic exposure.

Plus, when a War-Lock therapeutic is not bound, the biologic component is latent and unreactive to minimise off-target effects.

“Bringing covalency to the biologics market is an extremely valuable way to unlock the next generation of protein therapeutics that are safer and more tolerable and can be dosed more frequently with lower doses,” said JP Morgan’s Stephen Squinto, who joined Enlaza’s board.

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