Boehringer Ingelheim has announced that it has acquired ICD Therapeutics. The acquisition includes rights to ICD’s innovative MacroDel biologics-delivery platform. Boehringer Ingelheim will employ this platform for the development of novel therapeutics in collaboration with nanoPET Pharma GmbH, a former shareholder of ICD Therapeutics. Further details of the acquisition are not being disclosed.

“Boehringer Ingelheim’s collaboration with nanoPET Pharma has the potential to eliminate the hurdle that many cancer biologics face: getting access to targets inside tumor cells,” said Norbert Kraut, Ph.D., Global Head of Cancer Research, Boehringer Ingelheim. “We will use ICD’s MacroDel technology to develop first-in-class potential drug candidates for intracellular targets across a variety of tumor types, for the benefit of patients who so far have no or only inadequate treatment options.”

Engineered proteins and peptides offer great potential to block protein-protein interactions inside cancer cells, but their large size is generally assumed to prevent intracellular delivery. ICD’s MacroDel technology exploits transporter proteins in the cell membrane to deliver such drug candidates inside tumor cells. This opens up therapeutic targets that would be otherwise inaccessible, read the press release.

A prior investment from Boehringer Ingelheim’s Venture Fund (BIVF) supported ICD’s development of the MacroDel technology. The BIVF strategically invests in groundbreaking therapeutics-focused biotechnology companies to enable development of their technologies for therapeutic applications that have potential for strategic partnerships with Boehringer Ingelheim or other pharmaceutical partners.

The acquisition opens up a new range of therapeutic opportunities for Boehringer Ingelheim to develop therapeutics for difficult-to-treat cancers.