Boehringer Ingelheim has entered a stategic collaboration with the Center for Biomarker Research in Medicine (CBmed) to expedite the translation of cancer therapy approaches into new therapeutics.

The financial terms and details of the deal were not disclosed.

The long-term alliance aims to detect and validate biomarkers across Boehringer Ingelheim's expanding cancer pipeline. This approach will aid in establishing proof of therapeutic effect, detecting new indications and selection of patients.

The new partnership is set to expedite and widen Boehringer's oncology portfolio.

The partnership will utilise translational medicine approaches to hasten the development of first-in-class medicines.

CBmed operates at the intersection of scientific discovery and patient care, in close integration with the Medical Universities of Graz and Vienna.

The company has developed a multi-omics technology platform, which is instrumental in the quick discovery of new biomarkers.

The platform merges in-house expertise in cancer immunobiology, molecular pathology and data science, along with scientific and medical capabilities and access to extensive biobanks.

Among these resources is Europe's largest biobank located in Graz, which houses seven million patient samples, and BBMRI-ERIC [a distributed research infrastructure of biobanks and biomolecular resources] with 60 million patient samples.

Boehringer Ingelheim oncology translational medicine and clinical pharmacology global head Vittoria Zinzalla stated: “We are excited to join forces with CBmed’s team of translational science experts.

“This new partnership will further support our efforts to increase the success rate of our clinical development by translating research discoveries into actionable insights for the clinic. It will also enable us to further expand our pipeline to achieve our goal of transforming the lives of people living with cancer.”  

Last month, Boehringer entered a licensing agreement with Kyowa Kirin of Japan to develop a new treatment for fibro-inflammatory diseases.

The deal is in line with Boehringer Ingelheim's strategy to create breakthrough therapies in this area and improve patient outcomes.