Takeda backs microbiome biotech
Takeda is currently going through a phase of building out its pipeline with smaller scale deals, such as through a partnership with Evox and a treatment acquisition earlier this year.
It has followed this up by being a backer of Enterome’s recent €46.3m ($52.6m) Series E financing round.
The two companies are already partnered on sibofimloc, a potential treatment for Chron’s disease, and previously signed a drug discovery collaboration for microbiome targets for gastrointestinal disorders.
The funds provided by Takeda will be used to progress the potential small molecule drug, sibofimloc, through development.
Regarding the rest of the funding, Enterome will look to progress its cancer immunotherapy, EO2401, which will see the drug candidate enter Phase I/II clinical studies in glioblastoma and adrenal tumors.
The potential treatment was generated by Enterome’s ‘OncoMimics’ platform, which creates microbiome-derived peptide antigens that mimic antigens expressed by tumor cells.
In the case of EO2401, the drug candidate expressed three peptide antigens that are present in glioblastoma and adrenal malignancies.
Beyond this candidate, the biotech is planning for its second OncoMimic candidate, EO2463, to enter the clinic in 2021 for the treatment of B-cell malignancies.
CEO of the company, Pierre Belichard, explained how the technology works: “[The] platform capitalizes on the well-described, constant interaction between the microbiome and the immune system, resulting in a pool of memory T cells directed against specific commensal bacterial antigens that we have identified.”
He continued, “We have discovered that some of these antigens bear striking similarity to those present on multiple cancer types and can induce a targeted, anti-tumor response.”
Correction: The piece previously indicated that Enterome was developing live biotherapeutics, this has been corrected to reflect Enterome's work developing potential small molecule treatments that are based on learnings from the microbiome.
