Boehringer forges hearing loss research deal in China

Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH (Ingelheim, Germany) said it will collaborate with the China Southeast University Institute of Life Sciences to develop regenerative therapies to treat hearing loss. The collaboration is part of Boehringer's Research Beyond Borders (RBB) program, designed to incubate promising technologies that could complement the company's core therapeutic areas, but do not yet fit into any of its ongoing programs (see BioCentury Innovations, July 14).

Boehringer said the collaboration, its first human pharma research deal in China, aims to develop a drug discovery strategy targeting regeneration of hair cells from inner ear stem cells. It said the partnership will complement an existing collaboration with Kyoto University studying hair cell regeneration in birds...