Photo: Carol Kaliff / Carol Kaliff

Boehringer Ingelheim's North American headquarters located in Ridgefield, CT.

Boehringer Ingelheim's North American headquarters located in Ridgefield, CT.

BI announces COPD collaboration with Weill Cornell Medicine

RIDGEFIELD Boehringer Ingelheim announced a collaboration with Weill Cornell Medicine to identify new treatment approaches for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, also known as COPD, with the hopes of halting or reversing the progression of the disease.

The three-year collaboration combines Weill Cornell Medicines Department of Genetic Medicines understanding of chronic airway diseases and use of novel therapeutic concepts for airway repair with BIs knowledge in the discovery and development of new therapies for respiratory diseases.

It is the second collaboration between BI and Weill Cornell Medicine, following prior work in inflammatory bowel disease.

The scientists at Weill Cornell Medicine and Boehringer Ingelheim will work hand in hand to translate new discoveries into drug discovery and development programs at Boehringer Ingelheim, Dr. Clive R. Wood, senior corporate vice president, Discovery Research at BI, said in a release.

The new collaboration is an excellent example of our unique partnering approach and our focus on early innovation, underscoring our ambition to develop the next generation of medical treatments for patients with COPD.

Chronic lower respiratory diseases, which include COPD, are the third leading cause of death in the United States. Approximately 15 million Americans have been told by a health care provider that they have COPD, BI officials said.

The goal of the new treatment is to help patients keep as active as possible and improve their overall quality of life, BI officials said.

Our continuous search for molecular drivers of chronic obstructive airway diseases has revealed novel repair mechanisms that warrant further investigation of their potential as therapeutic approaches, Dr. Ronald G. Crystal, chairman of Genetic Medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine and lead investigator in the new collaboration, said in a release.

BI is based in Ridgefield and employs about 2,500 people locally.

cbosak@hearstmediact.com; 203-731-3338

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BI announces COPD collaboration with Weill Cornell Medicine - Danbury News Times