Enodia strikes up to $127m deal for Kezar’s preclinical protein degradation assets

Kezar will receive an upfront payment of $1 million from Enodia. The U.S. biotech could also earn additional development, regulatory and commercial milestone payments worth up to $127 million in total, as well as tiered royalties on future net sales.

The deal comes after Enodia received seed funding just a few months ago. The French biotech has a proprietary discovery platform, and with the €20.7 million raised in January, they shared plans to develop small molecules to selectively inhibit the Sec61 translocon, a key gateway through which newly formed proteins enter the endoplasmic reticulum, and select a lead program for subsequent IND-enabling studies and future clinical development. Now, with the acquisition of new assets, Enodia has “the opportunity to integrate over a decade of pioneering drug discovery research completed by Kezar into Enodia’s selective targeted protein degradation platform,” said Yves Ribeill, Enodia CEO, in an email to European Biotechnology Magazine. “This will allow us to accelerate decisions around our candidate programs and pipeline and provide us with a faster timeline towards clinical development,” he added.

Blocking disease proteins before the making

Most technologies studied today in the field of protein degradation focus on targeting disease proteins only after they have already been produced inside the cell. Enodia’s strategy instead focuses on an earlier step in protein production by targeting the Sec61 translocon (the gateway that allows secreted and membrane proteins to enter the secretory pathway), preventing them from reaching the endoplasmic reticulum, where they normally complete their synthesis. “By acting upstream, we are essentially blocking pathologic proteins at the factory line rather than recalling them after distribution,” explained Ribeill.

According to the CEO, Enodia’s selective approach allows the development of inhibitors that target a group of disease-relevant Sec61-mediated proteins associated with a specific disease indication in inflammation, immunology, or oncology. “We are modulating multiple pathogenic proteins within a disease pathway, allowing us to achieve greater disease-level selectivity for targeted degradation,” he added.

He also told EBM that Enodia’s innovative platform can engineer selective Sec61 modulation, aiming to inhibit disease-relevant proteins while preserving vital secretion pathways. “We believe that our Sec61 inhibitors have first-in-class potential in inflammation, immunology, and oncology,” he said. “The acquired Kezar’s preclinical assets from its Sec61-based discovery and development program enrich and complement the already strong portfolio of Enodia.”

Keeping details confidential

Kezar previously tested a Sec61 inhibitor in the clinic (dubbed KZR-261), but in 2024, the company announced the discontinuation of the phase 1 trial to focus resources on its lead candidate, an immunoproteasome inhibitor. In a previous interview, Ribeill told EBM that “KZR-261 was developed as a non-selective inhibitor of SEC61,” adding that their strategy at Enodia was “to develop selective inhibitors of Sec-61 targeting pathogenic proteins.” When asked how today’s acquired assets from Kezar were different from KZR-261, he said both companies had agreed not to disclose additional details of the transaction. However, he explained that as KZR-261 is a non-selective inhibitor, Enodia does not intend to advance it further but the company will be responsible for all future development of other assets acquired from Kezar’s Sec61-based discovery and development program.

In other words, Enodia appears to be using the deal less as a way to revive an abandoned program and more as an opportunity to strengthen and accelerate its internal pipeline in inflammation, immunology and oncology.