Boehringer launches psychiatric research project
pharmafile | December 23, 2013 | News story | Research and Development, Sales and Marketing | Boehringer, circuit, psychiatry
Boehringer Ingelheim has announced it will collaborate on a new three-year programme to investigate the neural foundations of psychiatric disorders.
Research will be conducted with Californian firm Circuit Therapeutics, whose recently-developed neuromodulation technology – optogenetics – facilitates the monitoring and control of nerve cells and circuits in the brain.
As it stands little is understood about the unique patterns of neural activity associated with psychiatric disorders. By enabling the observation and manipulation of this activity in freely moving subjects, optogenetics could provide significant insight it says.
Through their collaborative efforts the companies hope to discover new drug targets and approaches to treatment development. However, the specific conditions in which the firms are most interested remain unclear.
Boehringer already has a number of drugs on the market for neurological conditions such as Parkinson’s disease and Restless Legs Syndrome. Its extended efforts in psychiatry are a more recent development.
Psychiatry is a lucrative market: according to IMS Health, two of the three best-selling drugs in the US this year were Abilify (aripiprazole, BMS/Takeda) and Cymbalta (duloxetine, Lilly), both for depression.
Boehringer has also expanded its interest in oncology in recent times. Its first US and EU cancer approvals were secured this year for Giotrif (afatinib), and it has a number of other treatments in its pipeline.
This diversification beyond the firm’s traditional realms of respiratory and cardiometabolic medicine indicates that it is actively pursuing growth.
It could also be viewed as a method of bolstering business, as the family-run company faces the looming patent expiration of two of its top-sellers: hypertension pill Micardis (telmisartan) in 2014 and chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder treatment Combivent (ipratropium bromide/salbutamol) in 2015.
On the newly announced psychiatric collaboration, Boehringer’s head of neuroscience Bernd Sommer, said: “We believe that, by working together to investigate maladaptive brain circuitry with this exciting approach, we will be able to obtain a better understanding of the neurobiological basis of human neuropsychiatric disorders.”
Circuit Therapeutics’ chairman Fred Moll said that his company looked forward to “a highly productive research collaboration that will provide transformational drugs to impact patients’ lives”.
Hugh McCafferty
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