Boehringer Ingelheim announces partnership with Mary Tyler Moore Vision Initiative to target diabetic retinal disease – November 12, 2024
Boehringer Ingelheim and the Mary Tyler Moore Vision Initiative (MTM Vision) jointly announced today a long-term partnership to advance the diagnosis and treatment of diabetic retinal disease[1] (DRD), which affects over 100 million people. Specifically, Boehringer Ingelheim will be the first pharmaceutical company to join the new international MTM Vision Consortium, whose academic partners include the University of Michigan (where the MTM Vision Consortium is based), the Joslin Diabetes Center, and the DRCR Retina Network. According to the press release, the MTM Vision Consortium “aims to unite innovators in the pre-competitive space from universities, foundations, as well as pharmaceutical and biotech companies” to drive efforts that will enable DRD diagnosis and treatment before vision loss occurs.
During the Mary Tyler Moore Vision Initiative annual Fall Symposium on “Curing Vision Loss from Diabetes” today, Dr. Shelby Unsworth (University of Michigan) and Boehringer Ingelheim’s Dr. Marianne Laouri (Global Asset Team Leader, Retinal Health) spoke on this new consortium. Dr. Unsworth said the purpose for building this consortium is to allow for faster discovery of new therapeutic targets and biomarkers for DRD. She added that the consortium intends to make all data generated available to non-member researchers and other academic institutions, under a governance structure overseen by consortium members and leadership. Dr. Laouri highlighted that DRD is a major issue that requires not only changing how DRD is viewed but also advancing how DRD is diagnosed and treated. She said a collaborative effort is needed to address this issue, from generating evidence about the natural history of DRD to using AI and real-world evidence to tell a compelling story about the importance of tackling DRD.
[1] Diabetic retinal disease includes diabetic retinopathy, diabetic macular edema, diabetic macular ischemia, and diabetic retinal neuropathy.
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Boehringer Ingelheim brings over a decade of research on retinal health; the current pipeline includes phase 2 diabetic retinopathy candidates with novel mechanisms.
Since 2013, Boehringer has been researching and developing treatments for retinal diseases, including age-related macular degeneration, diabetes-related eye diseases, and inherited retinal diseases. In 2019, the company launched a retinal health therapeutic area and, since then, has formed partnerships, including with Inflammasome Therapeutics in 2019, ZEISS Medical Technology in 2023, and now the MTM Vision.
Boehringer Ingelheim’s current retinal health pipeline consists of one phase 2 candidate for diabetic retinopathy (BI 764524) and three phase 1 candidates for undisclosed indications. In May 2024, the company shared positive safety data for the phase 1/2a HORNBILL study for BI 764524 in diabetic macular ischemia (a complication of diabetic retinopathy). The phase 2b CRIMSON study is ongoing and estimated to be completed in 2H26. In contrast to DRD therapies on the market such as Eylea and Lucentis, which are anti-VEGF drugs, BI 764524 is a novel monoclonal anti-Sema3A antibody.
