Enara Bio highlights Dark Antigens™ as a novel class of targets for developing targeted immunotherapies against solid tumors

Enara Bio’s unique approach identifying Dark Antigen™ candidates and cognate T cells in non-small-cell lung cancer and melanoma detailed in two posters to be presented at the 37^th Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer Annual Meeting

Oxford, UK – 7 November 2022. Enara Bio, a biotechnology company advancing novel T cell directed immunotherapies against unconventional, shared, cancer-specific antigens, today announces it will present two posters at the 37^th Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer Annual Meeting, which will be held in Boston, MA and virtually, 8-12 November 2022.

The two abstracts describe the pioneering research being conducted by Enara Bio and its partners, leveraging its expertise and unique EDAPT™ platform. These findings demonstrate Enara Bio’s ability to identify Dark Antigens shared across a broad range of cancers enabling the development of novel immunotherapies, such as bispecific T cell engagers, adoptive cell therapies and cancer vaccines. Through this approach, Enara and its partners hope to bring a new generation of cancer treatments to a wide variety of patients across multiple different tumor types, where there remain significant unmet needs.

Details of the poster presentations (which will be available on the Company website at the time of the meeting) are as follows:

Abstract # 312

• Abstract Title: Identification of novel NSC lung cancer Dark Antigens™ with expression in multiple tumor types, as promising targets for immunotherapies
• Authors: Rachel J.M. Abbott et al.
• Presenter: Joseph Dukes, Vice President, Head of Research, Enara Bio
• Abstract # 312 describes Enara Bio’s work, conducted in collaboration with Boehringer Ingelheim, to identify and characterize novel Dark Antigen candidates as immunotherapy targets in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

Abstract # 343

• Abstract Title: Identification of tumor-reactive T cells targeting melanoma Dark Antigens™ validates this novel class of targets for development of immunotherapies
• Authors: Rachel J.M. Abbott et al.
• Presenter: Rachel J.M Abbott, Head of TCR Pipeline and Dark Antigen Research, Enara Bio
• Abstract # 343 describes progress made identifying T cells and TCRs reactive against previously reported Dark Antigens shared across melanoma. This work was done by Enara Bio in collaboration with research groups at the Francis Crick Institute (London, UK), the National Centre for Cancer Immune Therapy (Copenhagen Denmark) and Leiden University Medical Center (Leiden, the Netherlands).

Dark Antigens are a novel class of cancer-specific peptide-HLA antigens derived from aberrant epigenetic activity in the genomic ‘dark matter’ of the tumor cell, leading to translation of polypeptides from previously thought to be non-coding genomic regions. Dark Antigens represent a vast untapped resource of novel, shared, homogenously expressed cancer-specific targets from a broad range of solid tumor types.

Joe Dukes, Vice President, Head of Research at Enara Bio, commented: “The two abstracts we are presenting at SITC highlight our progress not only in identifying and validating novel Dark Antigen candidates for the development of immunotherapies in NSCLC and melanoma, but also in establishing Dark Antigens as a new class of targets with broad potential across tumor types. Furthermore, the findings presented demonstrate the power of our EDAPT platform and the expertise of our team across multiple technology areas that has been put in place over recent years to build a leadership position in ‘dark genome’ target discovery. We strongly believe that the future of immunotherapy, particularly for solid tumors, lies with the ability to identify and exploit novel targets from untapped and unconventional sources. We are truly excited by the data we are generating across these programs, and the progress we are making in our partnership with Boehringer Ingelheim to advance cancer vaccines against Dark Antigen targets with potential to treat wide patient populations.”