Boehringer Ingelheim and Gubra announce a collaboration and license agreement for the development of novel peptide compounds to treat obesity. The collaboration will bring together Gubra’s expertise in the design, synthesis, characterization and in in vivo testing of therapeutic peptides with Boehringer Ingelheim’s expertise in the development of innovative medicines for patients with cardiometabolic disease. It further expands and complements Boehringer Ingelheim’s comprehensive research and development portfolio in cardiometabolic diseases, one of the company’s core focus areas.
Excessive weight and obesity are amongst the leading risk factors for heart disease, ischemic stroke, liver diseases and type 2 diabetes as well as for a number of cancers. The worldwide prevalence of obesity (BMI ≥30 kg/m2) has nearly doubled between 1980 and 2008. More than half a billion adults worldwide (10% of men and 14% of women) were obese in 2008 and at least 2.8 million people die each year as a result of being overweight or obese.1 There are insufficient treatment options available, resulting in a high unmet medical need for safe and effective treatments that achieve significant weight loss.
The joint research and development program between Boehringer Ingelheim and Gubra aims to identify novel peptidic compounds which are able to regulate food intake. It complements other ongoing Boehringer Ingelheim research and development programs, including the dual acting glucagon/GLP-1 agonist and the long-acting amylin analog development programs conducted in collaboration with Zealand Pharma A/S, Copenhagen, Denmark.2
“We look forward to working with Gubra to bring breakthrough treatments for obesity,” said Clive R. Wood, Ph.D., Corporate Senior Vice President Discovery Research at Boehringer Ingelheim. “It underscores our holistic, patient centric research strategy in metabolic diseases, which addresses not only obesity but also diabetes and non-alcoholic steatohepatitis as well as complications like diabetic nephropathy and diabetic retinopathy“.
Boehringer Ingelheim aspires to advance the treatment of cardiometabolic disease and has built a broad portfolio of marketed products for thromboembolic diseases, type 2 diabetes, acute stroke and myocardial infarction, hypertension and cardio-renal risk reduction. With its broad research and development approach in cardiometabolic disease, the company aims to develop the next generation of medical innovations in this therapeutic area to positively transform the lives of people with cardiometabolic disease and deliver high value for health care systems.
Henrik Blou, CEO of Gubra ApS said, “We are extremely pleased to enter this collaboration and license agreement with Boehringer Ingelheim, which is yet another proof of the quality of our longstanding work in the metabolic space”. And he adds, “it is truly a pleasure to be able to work with Boehringer Ingelheim on this important project and it enables us to utilize our very broad range of research, discovery and development capabilities for the benefit of the large number of patients suffering from this condition”.
