Taking cancer on through research and clinical collaboration

Transforming innovative scientific ideas into breakthrough therapies for patients increasingly requires a strong, international network of partners. Boehringer Ingelheim is dedicated to collaborating with researchers and the wider oncology community. Our approach is grounded in mutual trust, shared goals and a passion for leading science.

Read more about our ongoing collaborations below.

Boehringer Ingelheim oncology: ongoing collaborations

Selection of example partnerships. Please note that these partnerships are non-exclusive.

Our pre-clinical and research collaborations

We are developing a growing collaborative network with academic centers and biotechnology companies, reflecting our focus on leading science. Our research collaborators include:

3T Biosciences

Our two partnerships in as many years with 3T Biosciences aim to accelerate and expand our pipeline of T-cell based therapies. The partnerships bring together 3T Biosciences’ 3T-TRACE (T-Cell Receptor Antigen and Cross-Reactivity Engine) discovery platform with our immune cell-targeting compound approaches.¹

AACR GENIE

Project GENIE is a registry of real-world genomic and clinical cancer data. Through collaboration with biopharmaceutical companies, Project GENIE is adopting a common data model to allow details about each patient's journey with cancer to be collated at a larger scale.²

Broad Institute

We are industry partners of the DepMap Consortium, which aims to accelerate precision cancer medicine by creating a comprehensive map of tumor vulnerabilities.³

Cancer Research UK-Manchester

Our partnership with CRUK-Manchester embraces the synergies in drug discovery and development with translational expertise to develop cancer therapeutics for lung and colorectal cancers.⁴

CBMed

We have engaged in a long-term strategic partnership with CBmed GmbH Center for Biomarker Research in Medicine in Graz. We will jointly apply translational medicine approaches to accelerate the development of first-in-class medicines to transform the lives of people with cancer.⁵

CheckmAb

We are collaborating with CheckmAb to translate their unique insights in the biology and targeting of tumor-infiltrating regulatory T-cells (Tregs) into new treatments for people living with cancer.⁶

Circle Pharma

Our research collaboration and license agreement with Circle Pharma has the shared goal of developing a first-in-class cyclin inhibitor that can halt the growth of cancer cells potentially offering hope to those living with hard-to-treat cancers.⁷

Dundee University

We have joined forces with the University of Dundee to develop PROteolysis TArgeting Chimeric molecules (PROTACs) as new therapeutic modalities. Dr Alessio Ciulli, based at the School of Life Sciences at Dundee, is one of the pioneers in the field of PROTACs, which target disease-causing proteins for degradation by the ubiquitin-proteasome system.⁸

Enara

Our partnership with Enara Bio combines our approach to tackle cancer through pairing leading science with innovative immune-oncology platforms, such as oncolytic viruses and cancer vaccines, with Enara Bio’s expertise in cancer antigen identification.⁹

IBM

We are collaborating with IBM to leverage IBM’s foundation model technologies in the discovery of novel candidate antibodies for the development of efficient therapeutics.¹⁰

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

Our collaboration with Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center focuses on development of potential therapies that target a range of KRAS-driven cancers.¹¹

Numab

We are working together with Numab Therapeutics to develop novel immune cell-directed treatments for difficult-to-treat lung and gastrointestinal cancers. The collaboration brings together our leading expertise in the research and development of life-changing breakthrough therapies with Numab’s multi-specific antibody platform.¹²

Oxford BioTherapeutics

This collaboration will leverage Oxford BioTherapeutics’ proprietary OGAP® (Oxford Genome Anatomy Project) to discover novel selective tumor targets for our T-cell engager, cancer vaccine and oncolytic virus platforms.¹³ This collaboration has yielded two clinical stage assets.

Peking University

We are working closely with research teams at Peking University to identify novel targets and medicines within key therapeutic areas that include cancer immunology and immune modulation, respiratory, cardiometabolic and central nervous system diseases.¹⁴

Phenomic AI

We entered into a strategic collaboration and licensing agreement with Phenomic AI to discover targets important in stroma-rich cancers. The partnership will leverage Phenomic’s expertise in target identification and stromal biology based on its scTx®single-cell transcriptomics platform.¹⁵

Qiagen

Our collaboration with Qiagen has resulted in the approval of a companion diagnostic test for EGFR in lung cancer.¹⁶

Quantro Therapeutics

We have partnered with Quantro Therapeutics to develop drug candidates for transcription regulation in cancer.¹⁷

Research Institute of Molecular Pathology

The Research Institute of Molecular Pathology (IMP), founded in 1985, is funded primarily by Boehringer Ingelheim. IMP is a leading basic research institute in Vienna, Austria, with 13 research groups that include scientists from 40 countries. As part of Vienna BioCenter, the IMP is embedded in one of Europe’s biggest life science hubs with approximately 2,800 people working on life science research, education and business.¹⁸

Synaffix

Our partnership with Synaffix gives us access to the company’s antibody drug conjugate technology for a number of high-profile ADC targets for oncology research.¹⁹

Tessellate Bio

We have partnered with Tesselate to develop first-in-class precision treatments for people living with ALT+ cancers.²⁰

Tokyo University of Science

We are partnering with Tokyo University of Science to explore novel cancer treatments.²¹

Trutino

We are partnering with Trutino Biosciences to develop safer, more tolerable, and more effective cytokine therapies for single agent and novel combinations with our cancer vaccine, oncolytic virus, T-cell engager and myeloid-targeting therapies.²²

University Hospital Schleswig-Holstein

Partnering with University Hospital Schleswig-Holstein allows us to compare tissue and liquid biopsies in people with different types of cancer.²³

University of Pennsylvania

The NIH/Boehringer Ingelheim Summer Research Program at the University of Pennsylvania is designed to expose students to all phases of biomedical research.²⁴

VantAI

VantAI will pair its induced proximity platform with our deep early discovery experience to identify targeted protein degraders with enhanced properties for traditionally “undruggable” targets.²⁵

WEHI

Partnering with WEHI brings our combined expertise in the biology and therapeutic targeting of inhibitor of apoptosis proteins, protein degradation and drug discovery to target cancer-causing proteins.²⁶

Our clinical collaborations

We are involved in a number of collaborations in format, including:

iCAN Finland

We are the first company to join the iCAN flagship partnership, hosted by the University of Helsinki and HUS Helsinki University Hospital. The partnership enables a uniquely large and broad pan-cancer study, the iCAN Flagship Project.²⁷

Japanese Foundation for Cancer Research

We entered into a comprehensive partnership with the Japanese Foundation for Cancer Research to promote clinical development in oncology.²⁸

MD Anderson Cancer Center

We are collaborating with the MD Anderson Cancer Center to develop innovative medicines for various types of cancers, including gastrointestinal and lung cancers.²⁹

Mount Sinai

A research alliance that aims to explore different therapeutic concepts within the ubiquitin system, a highly attractive and potentially rich area of unprecedented drug targets.³⁰

National Cancer Center Japan

We are working together with the National Cancer Center, Japan, to carry out early drug discovery and translational research focusing on specific biomarkers and tumor types that are prevalent in Asia.³¹

OSE Immunotherapeutics

Based on licensed technology from OSE Immunotherapeutics, we are investigating a first-in-class myeloid cell-surface molecule signal regulatory protein alpha (SIRPα) antagonist, BI 770371. The monoclonal antibody blocks the interaction between SIRPα and CD47 to restore the immune functions of myeloid cells in the tumor microenvironment. BI 770371 is being tested in a Phase Ib trial.^32–34

Sarah Cannon Research Institute

We have formed a strategic collaboration with the Sarah Cannon Research Institute to study ezabenlimab, an anti-programmed death-1 (anti-PD-1) antibody for the combination treatment of various cancers, including non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).³⁵