Boehringer Ingelheim collaborates on cancer and immunotherapy research

German pharmaceutical company Boehringer Ingelheim this week announced research collaborations with Vanderbilt and Yale universities in order to develop treatments for cancer and other diseases.

The aim of the Vanderbilt collaboration is the research and development of small molecule inhibitors of oncogenic Ras - the most frequently mutated oncogene known in cancer. Mutations in the Ras family (comprising H-Ras, N-Ras and K-Ras) are found in 20 to 30% of all human tumours, and the protein has been particularly difficult to target since its discovery in human cancers more than 30 years ago.

Boehringer Ingelheim will be working with the cancer drug discovery laboratory of Professor Stephen W Fesik in a multiyear research program focusing on the development of small molecule inhibitors of Ras. Dr Fesik has been described as “a pioneer in the discovery of small molecules that bind to and inhibit challenging drug target proteins” by Professor Lawrence J Marnett, Associate Vice Chancellor for Research for the Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

“The combination of his lab’s novel techniques and the resources and expertise of Boehringer Ingelheim will result in a powerful drug discovery team,” Professor Marnett added.

Boehringer Ingelheim will also be undertaking a three-year collaboration with Yale University to investigate novel therapeutic targets in the field of immune modulation - a range of treatments aimed at harnessing a patient’s immune system to fight disease. The company will provide research funding for a number of projects together to identify new immune-modulatory agents for oncology, autoimmune and respiratory disorders, and also has an option to obtain an exclusive licence for these programs.

Boehringer Ingelheim will be working with Dr Lieping Chen, a leading investigator in the characterisation of cell surface co-stimulatory and co-inhibitory molecules that modulate immune responses. He was the first scientist to apply co-stimulation as a means for cancer immunotherapy, and his work in discovering the PD-L1/PD-1 pathway and anti-PD-L1/PD-1 therapy has shown to be highly promising for treating cancer patients.

“This collaboration will help us to identify important pathways, and what the biological application of modulating those pathways will be,” Dr Chen said. “We will investigate whether these new pathways could become future drug targets.”

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