Biopharmaceutical company Enterome has signed a strategic R&D collaboration and license agreement with Nestlé Health Science targeting food allergies and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).
Enterome is a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company developing immunomodulatory drugs based on its bacterial Mimicry drug discovery platform.
As part of the agreement, Enterome will receive €40 million upfront in cash and equity from Nestlé Health Science.
It will also be eligible to receive clinical and sales milestone payments for each licensed therapeutic candidate, as well as royalties on net sales.
Enterome will be responsible for leading drug discovery activities and bear related costs up to the investigational new drug (IND) application.
Nestlé, Enterome Collaboration
Through the collaboration, Nestlé aims to successfully develop and commercialise Enterome's lead EndoMimics pipeline candidate, EB1010 – a potent local inducer of IL-10, designed to provide improved therapeutic outcomes for patients with food allergies and IBD.
EB1010, which will enter clinical trials in 2023, was discovered using Enterome's novel bacterial Mimicry drug discovery platform.
The same platform will also be used to identify and develop new EndoMimics as potential novel therapies for inflammation associated with food allergies.
The partners will also seek to identify and create a pipeline of novel AllerMimics (allergen immunotherapies for food allergies) using Enterome's Mimicry platform, with an initial focus on peanut allergens as the basis for a new class of immunotherapies that suppress allergic reactions.
Hans-Juergen Woerle, chief scientific and medical officer of Nestlé Health Science said, "Approximately 220 million people around the world live with food allergies, while seven million live with inflammatory bowel disease. Through this collaboration, we are aiming to develop novel therapies for these two disease areas with high unmet medical need.
"We are excited about the opportunity to partner with Enterome on their unique microbiome drug discovery platform striving to develop first-in-class, high-quality treatment solutions that will help patients to live a healthier life."
Read More: Nestlé Acquires Peanut Allergy Treatment Maker, Aimmune Therapeutics
New Pipeline
"We are thrilled to sign this R&D agreement to develop a new pipeline of novel AllerMimics candidates as well as further develop and commercialise EB1010, our lead EndoMimics candidate, with Nestlé Health Science, a world leader in food allergies," said Pierre Belichard, CEO of Enterome.
"The signing of this collaboration further highlights both the potential and growing interest in our Mimicry platform as a source of novel immunotherapies," he added.
© 2022 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest A-Brands news. Article by Conor Farrelly. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.
