With grant funding from governments at multiple levels in Canada, Entos Pharmaceuticals is looking to plant roots at a CAD $198.5 million ($137.2 million) R&D and manufacturing hub in Edmonton.
The 103,000-square-foot R&D center and biomanufacturing plant will be used to develop and produce the company’s Fusogenix proteolipid vehicles (PLVs). The space will support the University of Alberta spin-off's continued evolution, building on its partnership with Eli Lilly centered on the PLV drug delivery technology.
In 2022, Lilly shelled out $50 million upfront for exclusive rights to use the tech for nucleic acid-based products targeting the central and peripheral nervous systems.
Besides aiding Entos' industry collaborations, the new digs will help to build out Canada’s capacity for domestic drug manufacturing, the company noted in a press release. The Government of Canada agreed to chip in $62 million CAD ($42.8 million) for the site, while the Government of Alberta committed $15.5 million CAD ($10.7 million).
Entos was born from the University of Alberta’s Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry and formed as its own entity in 2016.
“Our government is protecting the Canadians of tomorrow by making the necessary investments today,” Canada’s Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, François-Philippe Champagne, said in the release. “By supporting the construction of this state-of-the-art facility in Edmonton, we are strengthening our capacity to produce cutting-edge therapeutics and vaccines, which will better equip Canada in responding to future health emergencies.”
Canada has been home to a few new facilities in life sciences lately as the country looks to increase its domestic supply, including a cell and gene manufacturing plant from CDMO OmniaBio and the country’s largest vaccine manufacturing site courtesy of Sanofi.
Entos, meanwhile, is “thrilled to receive this investment,” CEO John Lewis said in a statement. “It will help us develop, scale up, produce, and commercialize Fusogenix PLV therapeutics to address critical health needs and fill gaps in Canada’s domestic manufacturing capacity," he added.
The company, which also operates in San Diego, California and London, England, uses its proprietary fusogenic fusion associated small transmembrane (FAST) proteins to enable the delivery of mRNA or DNA into target cells.
Before Lilly hopped on board, Entos and BioMarin entered into a collaboration in 2021, although that partnership is no longer listed on the company’s website.
Separately, Entos is working on drug candidates in cystic fibrosis, Stargardt disease and obesity, including a GLP-1 gene therapy program.