Boeh Ingelheim/Sequana Asthma Genetics Alliance

Sequana Therapeutics and Boehringer Ingelheim have formed a collaborative research alliance aimed specifically at identifying and characterizing the genetic basis of asthma and developing new therapeutics based on those findings. The coalition builds on an existing partnership between Sequana and the Samuel Lunenfield Research Institute in Canada, the prerogative of which is the isolation, cloning and sequencing of genes associated with asthma.

Within the agreement, Sequana researchers will focus on the identification and cloning of asthma-associated genes while Boehringer will concentrate its efforts on characterizing the nature of their function.

At present the research program is in its early stages. The companies are looking at genetic data (genetic material and inheritance patterns from asthmatic individuals and their relations) from the 300 closely- related inhabitants of Tristan da Cunha; a closely-related population allows geneticists to draw up an extensive family tree which can be used to "link" a disease with a particular gene(s) or chromosomal position. This group exhibits one of the highest asthma incidences in the world.