Numab links up with German pharma major on cancer and retinal diseases

Switzerland-based biotech firm Numab Therapeutics has entered into a research collaboration and worldwide licensing agreement with German family-owned pharma Boehringer Ingelheim.

The companies will start with two projects aiming at novel therapies for difficult-to-treat lung and gastrointestinal (GI) cancers and patients with geographic atrophy (GA), a progressive, irreversible retinal disease that occurs in patients with age-related macular degeneration (AMD) for which there is no current treatment. The collaboration brings together Boehringer Ingelheim’s leading expertise in the research and development of life changing breakthrough therapies with Numab’s multi-specific antibody platform.

The novel T-cell engager to be developed with Numab adds to Boehringer Ingelheim’s growing cancer immunology portfolio and supports the strategy to take cancer on by targeting ‘cold’ tumors with synergistic combination approaches. In retinal diseases Boehringer Ingelheim is pursuing a holistic approach leveraging existing expertise in oncology, inflammation, neurodegeneration, fibrosis and cardiometabolic diseases.

The new GA program with Numab further broadens the company’s comprehensive portfolio of next generation retinal therapy approaches in various stages of development up to Phase II in macular degeneration and diabetic retinal diseases.