Boehringer To Bulk Up Partnerships
On the sidelines of this week's BIO-Europe conference in Munich, Germany, Scrip spoke with Boehringer Ingeheim's corporate vice-president of therapeutic alliances and strategic partnerships Dr. Paola Casarosa, about what her company is looking for in its partners and what she is anticipating for 2016.
Scrip: Boehringer held a meeting at BIO-Europe about its aim to establish new partnership arrangements, but why is the company looking to boost its efforts in this area now and what is the company looking for?
Paola Casarosa: We have realized we have very good and strong abilities but it would be short-sighted of us to think that all innovation happens only in our labs. We have moved away from innovation is our lab to the world is our lab. There are a lot of pioneering and exciting ideas happening every day in academia, biotech and the healthcare environment, and we want to tap into that in the right way –which for us is to build a strong partnership track record.
The key for us when assessing partnerships is always the science, we need to be able to get excited about the hypothesis and have a shared vision with the potential partner about the right steps to take to validate the idea. This is the first part, and then the second part is the human factor. We need to be able to build a relationship that builds to mutual trust – a very human factor.
Finally we have to be flexible in finding the right approach. We are known for having repetitive business with our partners. One example I can think of is our partnership with Zealand Pharma, a Danish company. We have had two different deals with Zealand years apart from each other. Also, Ablynx Inc. is another company we have worked with on more than one program. When the science is right you evolve a way of working together and you build a level of trust, so if another program comes along that is the right fit, it is very likely that we will work with our historical partners again.
Scrip: Are there any therapy areas that you are not currently active in that you are looking to move into?
PC: We have enough on the table. It is important that you stay conscious of the level of energy and commitment you need to put into a therapeutic area to be competitive in that space. Therefore I very much appreciate a focus; it helps us to be effective and Boehringer as a company to be successful. Also in terms of expertise, you cannot be an expert in everything. If you dilute yourself over too many spaces you cannot promote yourself as an expert in any of them.
One of the things we bring to the table in our partnership deals is our clinical expertise. We have been able to pull together some quite amazing trials, such as the large scale cardiovascular outcomes trial for empagliflozin, known as the EMPA-REG OUTSOME study. There are few companies who can do that kind of study
Scrip: Geographically, do you have a region of focus for your partnerships?
PC: We have partnerships all over, including a great deal in place with Hanmi Pharmaceutical of South Korea, for HM61713, a novel third generation EGFR targeted therapy for the treatment of EGFR mutation positive lung cancer. We have many deals locally in Japan, China and Europe also. We are a global company and we are driven by science, so personally I don’t care if a deal is with a company in Boston or Shanghai, as long as it makes sense we will do our best to make it.
Scrip: What are you excited about for Boehringer in 2016?
PC: We have a strong focus now for immune-oncology, and this area goes far beyond just antibody checkpoints – there are many different aspects evolving very rapidly, like vaccines, viruses, checkpoints, and any way you can harness the immune system. It is a wide space and one where we cannot make it on our own. Immune-oncology to me is a space where partnering is essential.
Another area I am very excited about is respiratory. We don't see as much as we would like to see in terms of innovation in this area and the space is met with so much unmet medical need. I think launching a product for the treatment of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is an example of how you can still be innovative in a well-established and competitive space. Respiratory is an area where I would love to see some interesting deals form.
Scrip: What current issues affecting the wider industry concern you and how will Boehringer meet these challenges?
PC: We as an industry have the challenge of dealing with tight healthcare budgets across the globe and we need to join forces to make sure true innovation is rewarded. It is amazing what pharma has done already to treat diseases and I don't think this is always recognized. Also the true amount of effort for drug development is not always recognized. Drug development is a major gambling game. This is why I think there are often misconceptions around drug pricing and why there is a certain type of pricing for some drugs not others. I also realize the budget issues we are all facing these days. New approaches in this area are needed, and changes are needed. We are at a reflection point with this system.
Scrip: What is the last thing you changed your mind about in a business decision?
PC: Something very recent, I cannot say the target, but I was very interested in a target and I thought there would be no way to address this but for biologics. However, I have since seen ideas from a small, upcoming company that showed a way to reach this target with small molecules. I had thought this was not possible, they proved me wrong. But I was very happy to be proved wrong.