Boehringer teams up with Gubra to develop second obesity treatment

German pharmaceutical company Boehringer Ingelheim has entered into a second licence and collaboration agreement with Danish biotech company Gubra for the development of an obesity treatment.

In an announcement yesterday, May 29, Boehringer said the collaboration aims to develop novel peptide poly-agonists.

Boehringer said that there are currently only “insufficient” treatment options available for obesity, which is a complex disease.

As part of the collaboration, Gubra will be eligible to receive up to €240 million ($267 million) in up-front and success-based development and commercialisation milestones. It will also receive staggered double-digit royalties on worldwide net sales.

The collaboration will combine Gubra’s expertise in the design, synthesis, pharmaceutical characterisation and testing of peptides with Boehringer’s research and development of innovative medicines in cardiometabolic diseases, the announcement said.

It is the second joint obesity research and development programme between the two companies. In 2017, Boehringer and Gubra entered into a €250 million collaboration to develop peptides that regulate food intake.

Clive Wood, corporate senior vice president of discovery research at Boehringer, said the company looked forward to expanding its collaboration with Gubra.

“I anticipate that these programmes will help us bring much needed new treatment options for obesity patients,” Wood said.

Henrik Blou, the CEO of Gubra, said the first collaboration between the two companies “has shown that the strengths of both companies are complementary”.

Blou added: “Joining forces on this novel research program has the potential to take obesity treatment to the next level to the benefit of patients around the world.”

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