New Oral Biologics Delivery Company, Entrega, Announces Strategic Partnership with Pharma

BOSTON, Jan. 10, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Entrega, Inc., a new company developing oral drug delivery technologies, today announced its formation by Enlight Biosciences, a Boston-based company established in partnership with a group of leading global pharmaceutical companies. As part of its initial development program, Entrega will use its unique spatially-directed proprietary drug delivery platform to create orally bioavailable formulations of several of the biologic drugs of Enlight's pharmaceutical industry partners, for which Entrega will receive undisclosed payments including upfront and research milestone payments.  Entrega will remain independent and retain all rights to the platform technology.

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"Entrega's technology could have a major impact on medicine by enabling the oral delivery of drugs that would typically require injection," said Dr. Robert Langer, David H. Koch Institute Professor at MIT, Entrega SAB Chair. "The relationship with pharma will support Entrega's unique technology and strengthen the platform significantly."  

Biologic drugs (biologics), such as insulin and antibodies, represent over $120 Billion in annual revenues and address major medical needs in areas such as cancer and inflammatory disease.  However, most biologics need to be delivered by injection, which leads to challenges in compliance and effectiveness. The ability to deliver biologics orally would address a significant unmet need for patients around the world. Entrega's proprietary drug delivery technology offers an innovative approach to deliver a wide variety of peptides and proteins via oral administration.

Entrega, Inc. was formed by Enlight Biosciences, a unique entrepreneurial collaboration to discover and develop platform technologies that will have a transformational impact on drug discovery and development.  "Enlight's innovative model, bringing together pharma companies and academic innovators, is addressing what has fundamentally been one of the foremost challenges in drug delivery," said Dr. Bennett Shapiro, former EVP of Worldwide Research at Merck, and currently PureTech Ventures Senior Partner, and Enlight Board member. Enlight was founded by PureTech Ventures and a group of the world's leading pharmaceutical companies.

About Entrega

Entrega, Inc.'s proprietary delivery technology provides a powerful platform for oral administration of proteins, peptides and difficult-to-deliver small molecules.  Entrega (meaning "delivery" in Spanish) is led by a world-class group of scientific leaders including SAB Chair and Board member Dr. Robert Langer, the foremost leader in the field of drug delivery, one of only 14 Institute Professors at MIT, a member of the U. S. National Academy of Sciences, the U.S. National Academy of Engineering, and the U. S. Institute of Medicine. Dr. Langer has written over 1,100 scientific articles and has approximately 760 patents. Other founding Scientific and Business Advisors include Dr. Colin Gardner, former CSO of Transform Pharmaceuticals, SVP of Research and Site Head at Johnson & Johnson and formerly VP of Pharma R & D at Merck; Dr. Samir Mitragotri, Professor of Chemical Engineering at UC Santa Barbara; Dr. Rodney Pearlman, formerly CEO of Nuon Therapeutics, President & CEO of Saegis Pharmaceuticals, and Director of Pharmaceutical R&D at Genentech; and Mr. Howie Rosen, former President of ALZA.  Entrega, Inc. was formed by Enlight Biosciences.

About Enlight

Enlight Biosciences is a unique entrepreneurial collaboration to discover and develop platform technologies that will have a transformational impact on drug discovery and development.  Enlight is a Boston-based company established in partnership with a group of leading global pharmaceutical companies.  Enlight has four active portfolio companies, most of which are moving forward on a confidential basis in partnership with Enlight's pharma members.  Enlight was founded by PureTech Ventures and a team of industry leaders and academic luminaries including Chairman Dr. H. Robert Horvitz of MIT, Nobel Laureate, an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, the U.S. Institute of Medicine, and a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.  Other founding Scientific and Business Advisors include Dr. Sanjiv Sam Gambhir, the Virginia & D.K. Ludwig Professor of Radiology and Bioengineering at Stanford University, Head of Nuclear Medicine, Director of the Molecular Imaging Program at Stanford, Director of the Canary Center at Stanford for Cancer Early Detection, recipient of over 20 awards including the Hounsfield Medal and Tesla Medal, and a member of the U.S. Institute of Medicine; Dr. Rakesh Jain, the Andrew Werk Cook Professor of Tumor Biology in the Department of Radiation Oncology at Harvard Medical School and Director of the Edwin L. Steele Laboratory of Tumor Biology at Massachusetts General Hospital, recipient of more than 50 major awards and lectureships and a member of the US National Academy of Sciences, Institute of Medicine, the National Academy of Engineering and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences; and Dr. Raju Kucherlapati, Professor of Medicine and the Paul C. Cabot Professor of Genetics at Harvard Medical School and the first Scientific Director of the Harvard-Partners Center for Genetics and Genomics, a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and a founding Board member of Abgenix, Cell Genesys, and Millennium Pharmaceuticals.

SOURCE Entrega, Inc.