Enodia Therapeutics, a startup spun out from Institut Pasteur and launched in February 2025, has raised €20.7 million in a seed funding round co-led by Elaia, Pfizer Ventures, and Bpifrance through its InnoBio fund, with participation from Wallonie Entreprendre, Argobio Studio, MACSF, the Institut Pasteur, InvestSud, Sambrinvest and Mission BioCapital. The successful funding round, which attracted a wide range of prestigious investors, reflects the Institut Pasteur's ability to transform foundational research into groundbreaking therapeutic innovation.
Enodia, a startup to provide protection against pathogenic proteins
The therapeutic platform developed by Enodia is derived from Institut Pasteur research. It uses machine learning to selectively modulate the Sec61 translocon, a protein channel embedded in the membrane of the endoplasmic reticulum – the "gateway" to the cellular secretion system.
The startup is named after the Greek goddess who guards entrances and protects against harm. "By identifying inhibitors that prevent pathological proteins from passing through this gateway, we can protect the host," explains Yves Ribeill, CEO of Enodia.
This approach is based on upstream intervention before the onset of disease, without compromising vital physiological functions and before any damage can occur. The Enodia platform leverages a vast chemical space spanning several families of well-characterized inhibitors, together with a tailored library of signal-peptide cell lines, to guide rational drug design through a combination of machine-learning-driven selection, proteomics-based secretome analysis and structural biology. This innovative strategy enables Enodia to unlock previously undruggable secreted and membrane protein targets to treat conditions with high unmet need.
The funding announced on January 8, 2026 will advance two drug candidates for autoimmune and inflammatory diseases toward preclinical phase. The platform also opens opportunities for treatments in the areas of oncology and viral infections, demonstrating the depth of the therapeutic pipeline and potential for future partnerships.
From a tropical disease to a therapeutic platform
The story began in the Institut Pasteur's Immunobiology and Therapy Unit, led by Caroline Demangel, in the course of her work on Buruli ulcer, a neglected tropical disease caused by Mycobacterium ulcerans. Her research revealed that the toxin produced by this bacterium, mycolactone, blocks the Sec61 translocon, and in so doing prevents proteins from being exported, causing them to accumulate and resulting in cell death.
Caroline Demangel and her team suggested that this mechanism could be exploited to selectively eliminate undesirable cells, particularly in multiple myeloma, an incurable cancer that affects more than 5,000 patients each year in France. The scientists demonstrated that blocking the translocon is especially toxic to these cancer cells, including those that are resistant to current treatments.
But how could this scientific discovery be turned into a usable treatment? This was where the Pasteurian ecosystem came in. The Department of Applications of Research and Relations with Industry (DARRI) funded the early research, and the project was then integrated into the Institut Pasteur Innovation Accelerator. DARRI connected Caroline Demangel with Argobio Studio, co-founded by the Institut Pasteur, which incubates highly innovative Pasteurian projects following initial support from the Innovation Accelerator. An industry researcher at Argobio Studio, Liliane Goetsch, was tasked with supporting Caroline to optimize the application of this discovery. This process led to the scientific team abandoning their initial idea to optimize the toxin and instead focusing on a discovery program to identify new molecules that would be easier to develop than mycolactone. A co-maturation program was then launched in close collaboration with Argobio Studio, including shared intellectual property.
Over three years, the project team – comprising scientists from diverse backgrounds (biologists, medicinal chemists, screening and artificial intelligence specialists), members of DARRI and experts from Argobio Studio – reached successive milestones in the maturation process, including identifying selective translocon inhibitors and obtaining patent protection, paving the way for the startup's creation in February 2025.
This approach perfectly illustrates the Institut Pasteur's ability to mobilize its resources and partnerships to transform advances in foundational research into tangible therapeutic innovation.
By capitalizing on DARRI's acceleration and co-maturation model, drawing on the energy and drive of a passionate scientist committed to public health, and incorporating private funding, this project is in line with our strategic ambitions for 2030: fostering foundational research and open innovation, funding the translation of discoveries into applications, and ensuring long-term health impact. It should serve as a model to encourage other scientists to follow the same path, for the benefit of global health and society at large.
