{"id":38109,"date":"2020-01-09T17:17:51","date_gmt":"2020-01-09T22:17:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sciencebusiness.technewslit.com\/?p=38109"},"modified":"2020-01-10T12:01:21","modified_gmt":"2020-01-10T17:01:21","slug":"pharma-gains-fibrosis-technology-in-1b-deal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/technewslit.com\/sciencebusiness\/?p=38109","title":{"rendered":"Pharma Gains Fibrosis Technology in $1B+ Deal"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Stuart<\/a>
Stuart Cook (Duke-NUS)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

9 Jan. 2020. Drug maker Boehringer Ingelheim is acquiring an antibody technology that blocks actions of a signaling protein associated with a range of fibrosis diseases. The deal is expected to bring biotechnology enterprise Enleofen Bio<\/a> in Singapore as much as $1 billion for each product developed from the company’s technology.<\/p>\n

Enleofen Bio is a three year-old spin-off company from National Heart Centre Singapore<\/a>, part of the SingHealth Duke-NUS Academic Medical Centre. Enleofen designs synthetic antibodies that block activity of the protein interleukin-11<\/a>, a signaling protein that promotes inflammation and growth of fibrotic issue in a number of human organs: liver, lung, kidney, retina, bowel, heart, and skin.<\/p>\n

Stuart Cook<\/a>, a professor of cardiovascular sciences at Duke-NUS Medical School, conducts research in the interleukin-11 pathway<\/a> that links the protein’s signals to fibrosis across human organs. Cook is one of the founders<\/a> and a current director of Enleofen Bio that licenses the anti-interleukin-11 antibody technology from Duke-NUS.<\/p>\n

In preclinical studies<\/a>, Cook and colleagues show injections of antibodies that block interleukin-11 signals reduce fibrosis build-ups and other liver damage in lab mice induced with non-alcoholic steatohepatitis<\/a>, or NASH, an advanced form of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. Enleofen Bio says it has one product, code-named ENx108A<\/a>, to treat fibrosis in a number of diseases from interleukin-11, or IL-11 signals, ready for clinical trials.<\/p>\n

The deal with Enleofen Bio gives Boehringer Ingelheim in Ingelheim, Germany worldwide exclusive rights to Enleofen’s anti-interleukin-11 technology. Boehringer Ingelheim already has nintedanib on the market, a treatment for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, or build up of fibrosis in the lungs, marketed under the brand name Ofev<\/a>. The drug maker expects to further develop the Enleofen technology into disease-specific products, working with the Singapore researchers.<\/p>\n

Under the agreement, Boehringer Ingelheim will be responsible for all clinical, regulatory, and commercial development of new products from the anti-interleukin-11 technology. In return Enleofen is receiving at least $1 billion in initial and milestone payments for each product developed from the technology. Further financial details were not disclosed.<\/p>\n

In a \u00a0Boehringer Ingelheim statement<\/a>, Cook says Enleofen Bio is eager “to engage Boehringer Ingelheim, a leader in anti-fibrotic therapy R&D to develop further anti-IL-11 therapies to begin to address the unmet medical needs of patients worldwide.” Cook adds, “The preclinical data across a range of conditions are unprecedented and this new approach of targeting IL-11 could be a game changer.”<\/p>\n

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