Nestlé Health Science has inked a strategic R&D collaboration and license agreement with French biopharma Enterome, targeting food allergies and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).
Per the $41 million deal, the partners will co-develop Enterome’s lead EndoMimics™ compound, EB1010, a potent local inducer of IL-10 designed to provide improved therapeutic outcomes for patients with food allergies and IBD. EB1010 is due to enter clinical trials in 2023. Enterome will be responsible for leading drug discovery activities and bear related costs up to the IND application.
The partners will also identify and create a pipeline of novel AllerMimics™ (allergen immunotherapies for food allergies) using Enterome’s Mimicry platform with an initial focus on peanut allergens as the basis for a novel class of immunotherapies that aims to suppress allergic reactions.
The deal with Nestlé is not the first major collaboration for Enterome. Back in 2018, the company signed a deal with Takeda to develop Enterome’s investigational drug candidate sibofimloc (TAK-018) in patients with Crohn’s disease, with the potential to expand to other gastrointestinal disorders. In 2021, Enterome linked up with Bristol Myers Squibb to develop an OncoMimics™ therapeutic cancer vaccine.
For Nestlé Health Science, it's another major play in the area of food allergies. Back in Sept. 2020, the company announced that it was buying the remaining stake in California-based Aimmune Therapeutics for $2.6 billion. Aimmune’s peanut allergy treatment, Palforzia, had been given the green light by the FDA earlier in 2020.