• Boehringer Ingelheim strengthens its retinal disease pipeline portfolio with  new co-development and license agreement

• The partners aim to develop novel therapies with significantly reduced patient burden for eye diseases with limited or only insufficient treatment options using Inflammasome Therapeutics’ intravitreal drug delivery technology 

• Inflammasome Therapeutics is entitled to receive up to $160 million in milestone and gated development payments as well as tiered royalties and other milestones due on commercialization

Ingelheim, Germany and Newton, MA, USA – Boehringer Ingelheim and Inflammasome Therapeutics Inc. (Inflammasome) today announced 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.  

In 2019 there were an estimated 82 million patients in the seven key countries (U.S., Japan, Germany, U.K., Spain, Italy, France) affected by one of the three major forms of retinal disease: Age related macular degeneration (AMD), diabetic retinopathy (DR), and diabetic macular edema (DME). Globally, the prevalence rates of these and other retinal diseases are expected to increase over the next 10 years primarily due to aging populations and the global diabetes epidemic. Despite therapeutic advances in some disease areas during the past years, the real world results are poor, and there are no or only limited treatment options in many areas, resulting in an overall high unmet need. The collaboration between Boehringer Ingelheim and Inflammasome aims to address this challenge by using Inflammasome’s technology  to deliver therapeutics in a biodegradable gel formulation into the eye.

“We are delighted to enter into a collaboration with a company of Boehringer Ingelheim’s stature,” said Paul Ashton, Chief Executive Officer of Inflammasome Therapeutics.  “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. “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.”

Boehringer Ingelheim takes a holistic approach in the development of novel retinal disease therapies, targeting key mechanisms in the pathogenesis of retinal diseases. The company has built a comprehensive pipeline portfolio of next generation therapy approaches in various stages of development up to Phase 2 in macular degeneration, diabetic retinal diseases and beyond. Inflammasome’s novel delivery technology using a long-acting degradable IVT implant complements this portfolio.

Inflammasome is entitled to receive up to $160 million in up-front, research and development support and milestone gated development payments as well as tiered royalties based on future commercial sales of developed products and other milestones due on commercialization.  
 

Boehringer Ingelheim
Improving the health and quality of life of patients is the goal of the research-driven pharmaceutical company Boehringer Ingelheim. The focus in doing so is on diseases for which no satisfactory treatment option exists to date. The company therefore concentrates on developing innovative therapies that can extend patients’ lives. In animal health, Boehringer Ingelheim stands for advanced prevention. 

Family-owned since it was established in 1885, Boehringer Ingelheim is one of the pharmaceutical industry’s top 20 companies. Some 50,000 employees create value through innovation daily for the three business areas: human pharmaceuticals, animal health and biopharmaceuticals. In 2018, Boehringer Ingelheim achieved net sales of nearly EUR 17.5 billion. R&D expenditure of almost EUR 3.2 billion, corresponded to 18.1 per cent of net sales. 

As a family-owned company, Boehringer Ingelheim plans in generations and focuses on long-term success. The company therefore aims at organic growth from its own resources with simultaneous openness to partnerships and strategic alliances in research. In everything it does, Boehringer Ingelheim naturally adopts responsibility towards mankind and the environment. 

More information about Boehringer Ingelheim can be found on www.boehringer-ingelheim.com or in our annual report: http://annualreport.boehringer-ingelheim.com.
 

Inflammasome Therapeutics 
Inflammasome Therapeutics (www.inflam.com) is a science based company founded to develop therapies for prevalent, degenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease, multiple sclerosis and macular degeneration.  These are all diseases of the inflammatory process driven by the innate immune system.  The company combines scientific excellence with proven development expertise and works to develop products via a mixture of licensing agreements and internal development.

Media Contacts:

Boehringer Ingelheim
Dr. Reinhard Malin
Head of Communications Innovation Unit
Boehringer Ingelheim Corporate Center GmbH
Media + PR
P: +49 6132 77-90815
reinhard.malin@boehringer-ingelheim.com

Linda Ruckel 
Associate Director, Media and Corporate Reputation
Boehringer Ingelheim U.S.
Media + PR
P: + 203-791-6672 
linda.ruckel@boehringer-ingelheim.com

Inflammasome Therapeutics
Bev. Jedynak
Bevlyn Consulting
+1 312 943 1123
+1 773 350 5793
blj@bevylnconsulting.com