Bayer and the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard announced that they have extended their multi-disciplinary research partnership by an additional five years, to advance the novel cancer treatments.

The expanded agreement will focus on a defined goal to jointly identify three new additional investigational drugs (INDs) for novel oncology targets.

"With Bayer's commitment to oncology, we are excited to build on our relationship with the Broad Institute to translate discoveries into real benefit for patients. We credit the Broad Institute as an entrepreneurial, forward-thinking collaboration partner that has helped us build a base of trust and close communication between our scientists," said Chandra Ramanathan, Vice President and Head of the Bayer East Coast Innovation Center.

"Having built a robust portfolio in the first few years, including the identification of multiple drug candidates, we are thrilled to continue our work with the Broad scientists to bring novel cancer treatments to the clinic." He commented again

 Established in 2013, the partnership brings together the Broad Institute's expertise in cancer research and chemical biology with Bayer's in-depth experience in small, chemically manufactured molecules and biologics drug discovery.

In 2015, the collaboration was expanded to examine genomics and drug discovery in cardiovascular disease.

With this recent extension, the Broad Institute will also bring their expertise in biomarker development and patient selection and clinical trial design. 

Now extended to 2023, the Bayer-Broad collaboration is uniquely structured to encourage close coordination and ongoing, face-to-face interactions between researchers at both organizations.

An association manager from Bayer is located at the Broad Institute to help and coordinate projects and ensure researchers have rapid access to information.

The research is guided by joint project and governance teams.

Institutions  will identify investigational drugs for novel oncology targets and make the associated intellectual property.

The institutions will also continue to openly share the biological knowledge generated with the scientific community, including through publicly-available datasets and publications in academic journals.