Bayer and Partners HealthCare’s founding members Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) and Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) have announced the launch of a joint lab to research new drug candidates to treat chronic lung diseases. The joint lab will host scientists from all three parties and Bayer is investing more than $30 million to fund joint research projects over the next five years.

Chronic lung disease is a broad term for a number of diseases of the airways and other structures of the lung, including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). About 65 million people suffer from COPD and 3 million die from it each year, making it the third leading cause of death worldwide.

Within the framework of this new collaboration, four leading experts will combine their expertise in the search for new treatment options for patients who suffer from chronic lung diseases: Edwin Silverman, MD, PhD, Chief of the Channing Division of Network Medicine at BWH, Bruce Levy, MD, Chief of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at BWH, Benjamin Medoff, MD, Chief of Pulmonary and Critical Care at MGH, Markus Koch, PhD, Head of Preclinical Research, Lung Diseases at Bayer.

“This strategic collaboration complements our in-house research and will bring us closer to providing life-changing treatment options for patients living with chronic lung diseases,” said Dr. Joerg Moeller, Member of the Executive Committee of Bayer AG's Pharmaceuticals Division and Head of Research and Development. “The joint lab concept continues to be an innovative model for collaboration between academia and industry, enabling novel approaches to drug discovery.”

“We strongly believe that this model will significantly accelerate the pace of discovery toward the goal of getting new therapies from the lab to patients safely and efficiently,” said Paul Anderson, MD, PhD, SVP and Chief Academic Officer, Brigham and Women’s Hospital. “This collaboration provides the opportunity to integrate novel findings directly into the drug development pipeline, thus speeding up the time to move a new treatment into the clinic.”

Scientists will work side-by-side, combining Bayer’s capabilities in drug discovery and development with the complementary clinical expertise, understanding of disease mechanisms, data analysis capabilities and insights from leading physician scientists of Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) and Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH). The lab, located at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, will see more than 20 people from all three organizations work in combined teams. The rights to the research findings will be shared equally between the organizations.