German pharmaceutical company Bayer has extended its longstanding cancer research collaboration with the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard by an additional five years.

In 2013, the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard initially partnered with Bayer Healthcare for work in the area of oncogenomics and drug discovery.

In 2017, Bayer extended its research partnership with the Broad Institute by an additional five years to develop and advance novel cancer treatments.

The extended collaboration aims to identify cancer targets and explore novel therapeutic approaches in oncology to bring more medicines to patients.

Also, it is expected to strengthen Bayer’s precision oncology pipeline.

Broad Institute president and director Eric Lander said: “The Broad’s deep expertise and knowledge in cancer genomics, chemical biology and drug discovery perfectly complement Bayer’s decades of experience in pharmaceutical development. We are thrilled to be working with Bayer in such a visionary collaboration.”

Broad Institute core member and cancer program director William Sellers said: “Through this alliance, Broad and Bayer have done just that. Combining Broad’s expertise in cancer biology and state-of-the-art drug discovery methods with Bayer’s expertise in drug development greatly increases our power to bring transformative medicines to cancer patients.”

The longstanding collaboration, which resulted in three clinical oncology candidates, is uniquely structured to enable close coordination and ongoing interactions between researchers.

It combines Broad Institute’s expertise in cancer research and chemical biology with Bayer’s experience in small, chemically manufactured molecules and biologics drug discovery to discover novel cancer treatments.

Bayer’s mutant EGFR/HER2 inhibitor, which is currently in Phase 1 clinical trials, has been derived from the existing strategic research collaboration.

It is the first reversible small molecule inhibitor to target EGFR exon 20 insertion mutations and HER2 activating mutations, currently in clinical testing.

Bayer said that its ‘Bayer Research & Innovation Center (BRIC)’ is located close to the Broad Institute in Kendall Square, Cambridge.

BRIC has a centre of precision oncology research, equipped with advanced laboratories for the development of targeted next-generation cancer therapies for patients.

It also has a new research team focused on leveraging chemical biology techniques to further advance its oncology drug development process, said the German drugmaker.

Bayer pharmaceuticals division oncology research and early development global head Dominik Ruettinger said: “We are constantly working to discover novel ways to treat this devastating disease that affects millions of people worldwide.

“Bayer’s established collaboration with the Broad Institute has already resulted in three clinical oncology candidates over the past decade.

“We look forward to continuing our work with renowned Broad scientists to advance additional innovative cancer targets into clinical development.”