Boehringer and Tessellate Bio partner on precision meds research

German family-owned pharma major Boehringer Ingelheim and Dutch precision oncology company Tessellate Bio have entered into a research collaboration and global license agreement. Jointly the partners will focus on the development of first-in-class, oral precision treatments for people living with cancer.

This is the first collaboration deal for Tessellate, which emerged from stealth in October 2023 with initial around $8.4 million in seed funding from European venture capital firms, BioGeneration Ventures (BGV) and Forbion.

Cancer continues to be one of the leading challenges in medicine and treatment options for many cancers remain limited, noted Boehringer, which said it is committed to changing this. The new collaboration with Tessellate Bio aims to develop treatments targeting tumors dependent on alternative lengthening of telomeres (ALT) for their growth. This feature is present in 10%-15% of all cancers and associated with poor prognosis and a lack of targeted therapies.