Boehringer Ingelheim and BioMed X have teamed up to develop a crowdsourcing approach to put together a research team; the team, made up of scientists from around the globe, will work toward finding new ways to treat patients suffering from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), which is a chronic, progressive and treatable -- but incurable -- lung disease, which currently affects nearly 210 million people around the world.
It is estimated that by 2030, COPD will be the third leading cause of death.
Boehringer Ingelheim has been focused for the last 90 years on developing treatments for respiratory diseases such as COPD, asthma, idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) and lung cancer.
The team will be based in the BioMed X Innovation Center on the campus of the University of Heidelberg in Germany and will be helmed by Renata Jurkowska.
"The newly formed research team will build on our strong scientific networks in Heidelberg and the Biotech Cluster Rhine-Neckar," said Christian Tidona, founder and managing director of BioMed X. "The team will be guided by experienced mentors from academia and Boehringer Ingelheim and will receive an intensive entrepreneurship and leadership training.”
Michel Pairet, senior corporate vice president of research and non-clinical development at Boehringer Ingelheim, said his team has been enthusiastic about the BioMed X partnership.
“We firmly believe that crowdsourcing is an exciting and refreshing way to find unconventional solutions based on the diversity of talents and ideas," he said.
Boehringer Ingelheim was founded in 1885 by Albert Boehringer (1861-1939) in Ingelheim am Rhein.
