Belharra Therapeutics Announces Strategic Collaboration with Sanofi to Advance Discovery of Novel Small Molecule Therapeutics for Immunological Diseases

• Collaboration will leverage Belharra’s proprietary, non-covalent chemoproteomics platform to identify and advance small molecules against Sanofi-designated immunology targets
• Sanofi to lead further preclinical, clinical and commercial activities of candidates
• Belharra is eligible to receive up to $40 million in upfront and near-term milestone payments, and up to nearly $700 million in aggregate research, development and commercial milestone payments and royalties on net sales

SAN MATEO, Calif. AND SAN DIEGO, June 18, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Belharra Therapeutics, a next-generation chemoproteomics company transforming small molecule drug discovery by illuminating binding pockets on elusive, high-value drug targets across the proteome, today announced a strategic collaboration with Sanofi to advance the discovery of novel small molecule therapeutics for immunological diseases. The collaboration will leverage Belharra’s proprietary non-covalent chemoproteomics platform to screen and validate hits against undisclosed Sanofi-designated immunology targets. Belharra is eligible to receive up to $40 million in upfront and near-term milestone payments, with a potential total deal value of up to nearly $700 million in payments over the course of the collaboration in research, development and commercial milestones, as well as tiered royalties on net sales.

“We look forward to combining the powerful capabilities of Belharra’s next-generation chemotherapeutics platform with Sanofi’s vast expertise in immunology research and development as we work together toward discovering new therapeutics for challenging-to-treat diseases,” said Jeff Jonker, CEO of Belharra. “With the ability to illuminate any pocket, on any protein, in any cell type, our platform enables perhaps the broadest and most unbiased chemoproteomic screening capabilities in the industry. Leveraging the platform, we have built a robust internal pipeline focused on oncology and immunology and are thrilled to simultaneously engage with therapeutic area leaders like Sanofi to maximize the platform’s potential to discover a wave of new first-in-class and best-in-class drugs for unmet patient needs.”  

“Our collaboration with Belharra demonstrates our efforts to build on our achievements in delivering first-in-class treatments for chronic inflammatory diseases by pushing the science of immunology further to advance new therapeutics that could change patients’ lives,” said John Bertin, Global Head of Immunology and Inflammation Research, Sanofi. “By leveraging Belharra’s chemoproteomics platform, we hope to explore immunology targets that, to date, have been considered undruggable.”

About Belharra’s Platform

Belharra’s platform is designed to enable the industry’s broadest and most unbiased chemoproteomic screening capabilities. The platform leverages a computationally designed library of non-covalent drug-like molecules that use photoaffinity chemistry to identify which proteins bind the molecules as well as the precise binding location on the target proteins. All screens are conducted in a native cellular environment. Using this approach, Belharra is able to illuminate any binding pocket on any protein or protein-protein interaction, in any cell type, yielding insights that enable the discovery of new drugs for well-validated but elusive protein targets as well as novel drug targets.

About Belharra Therapeutics

Belharra Therapeutics, Inc. is a next-generation chemoproteomics company transforming non-covalent small molecule drug discovery by illuminating binding pockets on elusive, high-value targets across the proteome. The company’s proprietary screening platform has the potential to yield a new wave of first-in-class or best-in-class therapeutics to address a broad spectrum of challenging and, to date, intractable diseases.

Guided by a diverse team of biotech trailblazers, Belharra is advancing a pipeline of small molecule drug candidates for well validated targets in oncology and immunology. Complementing its internal discovery efforts, Belharra partners with industry-leading companies, lending the power of its platform to find new starting points for groundbreaking medicines targeting partner-identified proteins across all disease areas while growing the platform’s datasets.

Belharra’s primary lab and offices are in San Diego, California, with an additional presence in the San Francisco Bay Area. To learn more, please visit www.belharratx.com.

Contacts:
Liz Melone
(617) 256-6652
liz@melonecomm.com

Jessi Rennekamp
jessi@astriorcomms.com