Whippany, N.J.-based pharmaceutical company Bayer HealthCare plans to expand its collaboration with the Broad Institute of Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University to use genetic therapy to develop cardiovascular treatments.
Harvard and MIT, both based in Cambridge, Mass., contribute to the Broad Institute through faculty work and funding. The institute was founded in 2004 to encourage a new generation of scientists to transform medicine, according to a news release.
The new partnership will include genetic discovery, target validation and drug discovery activities. A joint steering committee will guide the alliance's activities and a joint research committee will oversee research progress and direction. Financial details were not disclosed, according to the news release.
Although the majority of cardiovascular risks are associated with environmental conditions and lifestyle choices such as tobacco consumption, diet and level of physical activity, there are "risk genes" that contribute. Cardiovascular genomics is an emerging field that uses genomic information to identify disease risk and identify therapeutic targets for drug discovery, according to the news release.