Boehringer Ingelheim, Inflammasome Partner on Retinal Disease Therapy

Boehringer Ingelheim and Inflammasome Therapeutics, a Newton, MA-based company specializing in developing therapies for degenerative diseases, announced on Sept. 20, 2019 that they have entered into a co-development and license agreement to develop up to three therapies for patients with retinal diseases. By combining Inflammasome’s unique intravitreal (IVT) drug delivery technologies with Boehringer Ingelheim’s compounds from its retinal disease pipeline portfolio, Boehringer Ingelheim aims to develop novel therapies for retinal diseases. 

Inflammasome is entitled to receive up to $160 million in upfront, R&D support and milestone-gated development payments as well as tiered royalties based on future commercial sales of developed products. It is also eligible to receive other milestone payments dependent on the commercialization of product. 

“We are delighted to enter into a collaboration with a company of Boehringer Ingelheim’s stature,” said Paul Ashton, CEO of Inflammasome Therapeutics, in a company press release.  “We look forward to working with their team to leverage our respective technologies and expertise to develop new therapies for devastating retinal diseases leading to blindness.  This collaboration fits our strategy of advancing the company via both collaborations and internal development.”

“Boehringer Ingelheim is looking forward to developing Inflammasome’s novel technology for the delivery of our first-in-class retinal disease compounds working jointly with Inflammasome’s highly experienced scientific team,” said Clive R. Wood, PhD, senior corporate vice-president, Discovery Research at Boehringer Ingelheim, in the press release. “This will enable us to develop a broad range of novel therapy options for the many patients with retinal diseases waiting urgently for better and new therapy options.”

Source: Boehringer Ingelheim