Enodia Therapeutics, which develops small-molecule therapies for targeted protein degradation at the point of synthesis, and Kezar Life Sciences, a clinical-stage biotech company, report that Enodia has acquired Kezar’s assets from its Sec61-based discovery and development program. The acquisition enables Enodia to advance its understanding of Sec61 selectivity mechanisms, according to Yves Ribeill, CEO of Enodia.
Kezar will receive an initial upfront payment totaling $1 million, and will receive future payments upon achievement of certain development, regulatory and commercialization milestones, for a potential total of up to $127 million. Enodia has also agreed to pay tiered royalties on net sales.
“Kezar has made significant early advances in the Sec61 field with the discovery of small molecule inhibitors,” says Ribeill. “By integrating Kezar’s extensive preclinical datasets into our selective targeted protein degradation platform, this acquisition enhances our ability to make accelerated, yet informed development decisions across our candidate programs.”
Enodia’s proprietary platform enables selective Sec61 Translocon modulation, a novel approach to inhibit disease-relevant proteins at the point of their synthesis before pathological effects occur, while preserving essential physiological functions, continues Ribeill, adding that Enodia has built a chemical space spanning multiple Sec61 inhibitor families, supported by extensive biological datasets, including proteomics, Cryo-EM, and tailored cell line libraries to enable rational small-molecule drug design powered by machine learning. Insights from Kezar’s Sec61-based programs are expected to strengthen Enodia’s core focus on Sec61-driven selectivity for targeting protein degradation.
“Kezar has spent nearly ten years pioneering research and drug discovery efforts around the Sec61 translocon and continues to have strong conviction in this novel target,” notes Chris Kirk, PhD, CEO of Kezar.
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