Formed by Sofinnova Partners and former Sanofi executive Frédéric Marrache, Bionyra Pharma emerged from stealth Monday with an initial focus in inflammatory bowel disease and atopic dermatitis.
Bionyra Pharma is breaking out of stealth, launching with $165 million and three licensed assets engineered with the aim of extending half-lifes and creating more lasting and efficacious medicines for immune-mediated inflammatory diseases.
The Paris- and Boston-based biotech has picked up exclusive global rights to two clinical programs from TrueLab Biopharmaceutical, a China biotech. TrueLab could make up to $985 million off the deal, including an undisclosed upfront payment and a single-digit equity stake in Bionyra after the series A closes.
The assets at the center of the deal are BYN-002 (formerly TL-001), a TL1A monoclonal antibody designed with half-life extension (HLE) technology for inflammatory bowel disease and other relevant indications, and BYN-003 (or TL-003), a TL1A*IL-23p19 bispecific antibody also engineered with HLE tech. BYN-002 is being studied in a Phase 1 trial of healthy volunteers, while BYN-003 entered the clinic in April.
Bionyra also picked up a few preclinical programs from TrueLab. But that’s not all. The biotech has inked another deal, this one with NovaRock Biotherapeutics, for global rights excluding China to an IL-25 monoclonal antibody. The program, called NBL-023 and now BYN-001, is in preclinical development for atopic dermatitis and Type 2 inflammation. The candidate was also engineered using HLE science.
The freshly formed biotech was cocreated by European venture capital firm Sofinnova Partners and former Sanofi executive Frédéric Marrache, who serves as Bionyra’s CEO. Before joining Bionyra, Marrache was vice president and executive global project head for clinical development in Sanofi’s immunology and inflammation unit.
“More than half of patients suffering from immune-mediated inflammatory diseases remain inadequately controlled, highlighting a significant need for better treatment options,” Marrache said in a Monday news release. “Across our pipeline, we are selectively modulating immune pathways that are central drivers of disease in indications where current therapies remain insufficient. We have built Bionyra around assets and targets with clear therapeutic rationale, relevant biology and optimized clinical strategy to develop therapies that will deliver meaningful impact to people who don’t currently have good options.”
Bionyra’s oversubscribed Series A was coled by Jeito Capital and Sofinnova Partners, with Arkin Bio, Sanofi Ventures, Sixty Degree Capital, Vives Partners and Apollo Health Ventures also joining in.
