Covalent biologic platform company Enlaza Therapeutics announced a $100 million Series A funding round. This round of funding will be used to develop Enlaza’s proprietary covalent protein technologies further and support the advancement of wholly owned pipeline programs to the clinic.
The funding was led by the Life Sciences group of J.P. Morgan Asset Management’s Private Capital division, with participation from existing investors: Frazier Life Sciences, Avalon Ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and Samsara BioCapital. And the funding also includes new investors: Amgen Ventures, Regeneron Ventures, Bregua Corporation, Pappas Capital, and Alexandria Venture Investments. Along with the financing, Stephen Squinto, Ph.D., Chief Investment Officer (CIO) of the Life Sciences group of J.P. Morgan Private Capital, was named to the Board of Directors.
Enlaza’s covalent biologic platform, War-Lock, creates precise therapeutic warheads that covalently bind to drug targets of interest. And this white-space technology enables, for the first time, a covalent-acting protein drug that retains the selectivity of small-format biologics. These protein drugs enable specific covalent binding to an intended protein target, improving efficacy while reducing toxicities related to sustained peripheral exposure.
The War-Lock platform has various applications and produces therapeutic candidates with drug-like properties. The protein drugs produced by the platform can be modified to incorporate various payloads and achieve specific delivery to target tissues with high fidelity. And Enlaza has generated further preclinical data for its oncology drug candidates supporting the covalent mechanism of action by demonstrating efficient tumor penetration coupled with rapid systemic clearance, high tumor retention, and low off-target liabilities. The data has enabled Enlaza to develop a high-value pipeline of covalent protein drugs.
The company’s Board of Directors is comprised of Stephen Squinto, Ph.D., J.P. Morgan Private Capital; Jamie Topper, M.D., Ph.D., Frazier Life Sciences, Jay Lichter, Ph.D., Avalon Ventures; Shelley Chu, M.D., Ph.D., Lightspeed Venture Partners; Marcos Milla, Ph.D., Samsara BioCapital, and Sergio Duron, Ph.D., CEO, Enlaza Therapeutics.
KEY QUOTES:
“We are thrilled to close this financing with a group of new and existing investors that share our vision of creating a novel, differentiated class of protein therapeutics in oncology and other therapeutic areas. This support will enable continued expansion of our covalent protein drug platform, establishment of a diversified pipeline that demonstrates the broad potential of this approach, and advancement of our lead assets toward clinical development.”
- Sergio Duron, Ph.D., CEO of Enlaza Therapeutics
“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. We believe Enlaza’s platform is well positioned for many first-in-class and best-in-class opportunities and are excited to partner with this senior management team.”
- Stephen Squinto, CIO of Life Sciences group of J.P. Morgan Private Capital
