Boehringer Ingelheim goes into collaboration with Novosom

Boehringer Ingelheim is to enter into agreement with the German biotechnology firm Novosom.

The collaboration is over the development of treatments for liver and pulmonary disorders using Novosom’s own Smarticles for in vivo short interfering RNA (siRNA) delivery.

The two companies will work together to achieve in vivo target validation using siRNA in animals, which is considered a necessary step towards the development of therapeutics.

Novosom chief executive Steffen Panzner said: “We are delighted at the potential for this collaboration and anticipate it will provide significant further validation of our technology and a potent endorsement of our approach.

“This collaboration is the next step in our key objective to generate therapeutic delivery systems for siRNA, decoys, plasmids and antisense.”

Under the agreement multiple targets will be set, although financial details have not been revealed, and Boehringer Ingelheim will fund all research.

Novosom is expected to announce further collaborations during the year using the Smarticles molecules in oncology, immunology and liver therapeutics.

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