Bayer expands US academic collaborations for cardiovascular drug development

German pharma major Bayer (BAYN: DE) says it has expanded its collaboration with the USA’s Broad Institute of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Harvard University to include cardiovascular genomics and drug discovery. The goal of this new part of the alliance is to leverage insights from human genetics to help create new cardiovascular therapies.

“We are excited to broaden our collaboration with the Broad Institute to the area of cardiovascular genomics to discover genes and mutational changes underlying cardiovascular disorders in order to develop new therapies and diagnostic options for these diseases,” said Andreas Busch, head of global drug discovery and member of the executive committee of Bayer HealthCare. “We have been collaborating over the last two years and have developed a very constructive partnership during this time,” Prof Busch noted,

Genomics is an emerging field of cardiology

Cardiovascular genomics is an emerging field of cardiology that uses genomic information to characterize disease risk and identify new therapeutic targets for drug discovery. Cardiovascular disease is responsible for around one-third of all deaths worldwide each year. While a majority of cardiovascular disease can be associated with lifestyle factors such as tobacco consumption, diet and level of physical activity, risk genes can influence the predisposition to cardiovascular disease, age of onset and severity.

As part of this strategic alliance, Broad Institute and Bayer HealthCare will collaborate on genetic discovery, target validation and drug discovery activities. Governance for this alliance will be comprised of a joint steering committee and joint research committee that will oversee research progress and direction. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.