Boehringer Ingelheim and Circuit Therapeutics, a company specializing in optogenetics, have formed a second collaboration using Circuit's proprietary optogenetics technology platform. This new three-year collaboration will focus on investigating metabolic disorders with the aim of developing medicines for treating obesity and associated diseases. The prior collaboration between the two companies focused on the discovery of new treatments for neuropsychiatric disorders.

Circuit's optogenetics technology will be used to identify targets in central nervous circuits relevant for obesity, and central and peripheral circuits relevant for coordinating food intake. These insights will provide both companies with a better understanding of the mechanisms involved in obesity. It will also enable the prioritization of targets with a potential for therapeutic intervention superior to current standard of care in obesity. The ongoing collaboration between the companies in the area of neuropsychiatry has yielded first targets for symptoms of anhedonia (the inability to feel and experience pleasure) relevant to a number of psychiatric disorders which will be investigated further by Boehringer Ingelheim.

Source: Boehringer Ingelheim