Boehringer Ingelheim and Roche Collaborate on Treatment for Inflammatory Bowel Diseases

Boehringer Ingelheim has entered a collaborative agreement with Roche for the discovery and development of orally available new locked nucleic acid (LNA) oligonucleotides to treat inflammatory bowel diseases (IBDs), Boehringer Ingelheim announced on Dec. 19, 2017.

Under the agreement, the companies will collaborate on drug discovery and development as well as share clinical development costs and responsibility for the commercialization of potential products.

“The opportunity to work closely with the experts at Roche to discover and develop oral, gut targeted LNAs for the treatment of unmet medical needs in patients suffering from IBDs is extremely motivating,” said Jay Fine, global head of Immunology & Respiratory Diseases Research at Boehringer Ingelheim, in a company press release. “By combining our deep knowledge of gut inflammatory diseases and immunology with Roche’s expertise in the design, development and use of LNA technology, we believe we can accelerate the delivery of novel treatments for IBD patients.”