Bayer HealthCare (Bayer) has expanded its collaboration with the Broad Institute of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Harvard University to include cardiovascular genomics and drug discovery. The goal of this new part of the alliance is to leverage insights from human genetics to help create new cardiovascular therapies.

"We are excited to broaden our collaboration with the Broad Institute to the area of cardiovascular genomics to discover genes and mutational changes underlying cardiovascular disorders in order to develop new therapies and diagnostic options for these diseases. We have been collaborating over the last two years and have developed a very constructive partnership during this time," said professor Andreas Busch, Head of Global Drug Discovery and member of the Executive Committee of Bayer HealthCare.

Cardiovascular genomics is an emerging field of cardiology that uses genomic information to characterize disease risk and identify new therapeutic targets for drug discovery.

"It is exciting to be expanding on our ongoing, successful partnership with Bayer in oncology," said professor Eric Lander, president and director of Broad Institute. He added, "We are looking forward to a fruitful collaboration combining Bayer's expertise in the cardiovascular therapeutic area with Broad's deep knowledge of genomics and biology."

As part of this strategic alliance, Broad Institute and Bayer HealthCare will collaborate on genetic discovery, target validation, and drug discovery activities. Governance for this alliance will be comprised of a joint steering committee and joint research committee that will oversee research progress and direction.

Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.