Boehringer Ingelheim announces cancer drug collaboration with US university

Boehringer Ingelheim has announced a brand new collaborative partnership with Vanderbilt University in the US to work towards the development of new drugs for hard-to-treat cancers.

The pharmaceutical firm is particularly interested in finding a new treatment therapy for Kirsten Rat Sarcoma (KRAS), a viral oncogene that plays a key role in the spread of certain types of cancer including, lung, colorectal and pancreatic.

This is an area that Professor Stephen W Fesik of Vanderbilt University has already been exploring for several years. In 2015, he revealed that he had discovered two compounds that play an important role in binding to KRAS with high affinities.

As a result, combining the knowledge and resources of the university and the pharmaceutical giant could lead to further developments in this field over the next few years.

Clive R Wood, senior corporate vice-president of discovery research at Boehringer Ingelheim, commented: "We are very encouraged by the successful identification of inhibitors of KRAS in our alliance with Professor Fesik and his team and Vanderbilt University and look forward to expanding our collaboration."

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