Enodia Therapeutics raises €20.7m seed round for targeted protein degradation pipeline

The newly raised capital will be used to advance Enodia’s lead program toward preclinical candidate selection. According to Chief Executive Officer, Yves Ribeill, this milestone is expected within the next year and will represent a major inflection point for the company, laying the groundwork for subsequent IND-enabling studies and future clinical development.

Bpifrance’s participation through InnoBio investment strategy reflects a long-standing commitment to nurturing French life sciences innovation. Launched in 2009, the €173 million InnoBio fund specializes in early- and mid-stage biotechnology and MedTech companies, supporting them through critical growth phases up to an IPO or strategic partnership. Its focus spans oncology, rare diseases, cardiovascular and metabolic disorders, neurology, ophthalmology and infectious and inflammatory diseases.

From elegant biology to drug candidates

Built on science originating at the Institut Pasteur, Enodia’s proprietary platform uses machine learning to design small-molecule therapies that eliminate pathogenic proteins as they are produced, rather than after they build up in the body. While most protein-degrading drugs seek to destroy fully formed proteins, Enodia’s approach intervenes much earlier in the process, targeting the machinery that governs protein secretion.

At the center of the company’s science is the Sec61 translocon, a key gateway through which newly formed proteins enter the endoplasmic reticulum. Many pathogenic proteins – particularly those involved in cancer, inflammation and autoimmune disorders – depend on this pathway to be properly folded and transported to their site of action.

“By integrating machine learning and proteomics-driven insight with signal-peptide informed discovery, we can develop potentially best-in-class small molecules targeting SEC61, identifying truly selective therapeutic candidates for high-unmet-need conditions, with an initial focus on inflammatory and autoimmune diseases,” said Ribeill, in an email to European Biotechnology Magazine.

The transmembrane protein complex Sec61 translocon was considered an undruggable target until recent years due to its intricate biology. “While the Sec61 biology was discovered some time ago, the fine understanding of the mode of action was established in the last 3 to 4 years with the publication of crystallographic data of the complex,” explained Ribeill. “Enodia’s platform uses these latest data to enable new level of selectivity.” By selectively disrupting this process, Enodia aims to prevent harmful proteins from ever reaching maturity.

Protein degradation: a rapidly heating field

Enodia enters a competitive and rapidly evolving field. The same day, in the United States, EpiBiologics raised $107M in a Series B round to advance its protein-degrading cancer drug into the clinic. Moreover, Gate Bio has recently completed a $65M Series B  to advance small molecule drugs that eliminate a target protein by blocking the protein’s progress through the secretory channel Sec61. Earlier last year, Gate Bio also inked a deal worth up to $856M with Eli Lilly.

In addition, companies such as San Francisco–based Kezar Life Sciences are advancing immunoproteasome inhibitors that alter intracellular protein degradation in immune cells, highlighting both the potential of these mechanisms and the growing competition for leadership in the protein degradation field. Although Kezar stopped enrolling a Phase 1 study in refractory solid tumors for a small molecule targeting the Sec61 translocon to focus resources on its lead candidate immunoproteasome inhibitor. “KZR-261 was developed as a non-selective inhibitor of SEC61,” commented Ribeill. “Our strategy at Enodia is to develop selective inhibitors of Sec-61 targeting pathogenic proteins.”

Now, with fresh funding in place, Enodia Therapeutics faces the challenge of translating an elegant biological concept into tangible drug candidates. If successful, its synthesis-stage protein degradation strategy could open a new chapter in how hard-to-drug disease drivers are addressed across multiple therapeutic areas. “Our mission is to create a new class of targeted protein degradation medicines that are designed for real clinical impact,” said Ribeill.