Boehringer Ingelheim Strikes $1B+ Deal with Ochre Bio for Regenerative Liver Therapies Following $2B Partnership with RiboBio

On April 22, Boehringer Ingelheim (BI) announced a collaboration with Ochre Bio to discover chronic liver disease.(such as advanced metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis cirrhosis)NovelFirst-in-Class Regenerative Therapy。

Ochre Bio will leverage its proprietary platform that combines machine learning and human big data to identify multiple novel liver regeneration targets. BI aims to develop new therapies that could potentially enhance the liver's self-repair capabilities to prevent or reverse disease progression.

According to the terms of the agreement, Ochre Bio will receive an upfront payment of $35 million and near-term research milestone payments. If subsequent milestones are achieved progressively, the total value of the deal is expected to exceed $1 billion.

Ochre Bio was founded in 2019 and is headquartered in Oxford, UK. It is dedicated to developing novel RNA therapies for chronic liver diseases. The company completed a $9.6 million seed funding round in June 2021 and a $30 million Series A financing round in October 2022.

To date, Ochre Bio's work has included analyzing thousands of donated human livers to understand the causes of diseases and exploring relevant RNA therapies.

"We are driving liver regeneration by developing RNA therapies," said Quin Wills, co-founder and CEO of Ochre Bio.

Dr. Søren Tullin, BI Senior Vice President and Global Head of Cardiometabolic Disease Research, stated that Ochre Bio combines advanced genomics and machine learning with human-centered translational models, which has the potential to discover new regenerative pathways and will have a meaningful impact on the lives of patients with chronic liver disease.

Notably, on January 3, 2024, BI announced its collaboration withRibo Life ScienceRibo Life Science and Ochre Bio Reach Collaboration to Jointly Develop Innovative Small Nucleic Acid Therapies for Treating Nonalcoholic or Metabolic Dysfunction-Associated Steatohepatitis (NASH/MASH). This collaboration will leverage Ribo Life Science's leading expertise in early research and clinical development within the siRNA drug field.(Ribo Life Science's RIBO-GalSTAR technology platform can specifically target pathogenic genes in hepatocytes, selectively inhibit their mRNA, thereby developing RNAi therapies.Method), with a total potential transaction value exceeding 2 billion US dollars. These two collaborations indicate that BI is continuously strengthening its efforts in the liver disease field.

References:

[1]https://www.ochre-bio.com/2024/04/22/ochre-bio-announces-partnership-with-boehringer-ingelheim-to-develop-novel-regenerative-treatments-for-patients-with-advanced-liver-disease/

[2]https://endpts.com/boehringer-ingelheim-inks-chronic-liver-disease-research-pact-with-ochre-bio/

[3]https://www.ft.com/content/3cd4fc3c-e52b-4042-9540-08ce2444b5bd

[4]https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/enUVh8hcKfpaxMCY2vVLLA