Walgreens partners with Boehringer Ingelheim for clinical trials
Walgreens (WBA) announced its first big pharmaceutical partnership Wednesday, in a Phase III trial with Boehringer Ingelheim (BI) for its GLP-1 candidate, Survodutide.
The drug is being tested in patients with obesity as well as a liver disease known as metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis, or MASH.
BI's senior vice president of medicine and US medical director Lennart Jungersten told Yahoo Finance that he's excited about the opportunity as well as to diversify the trial population — a new priority in the post-pandemic world for Big Pharma.
"This is unique. In over 25 years of experience in this industry, this is the first time we are having this kind of collaboration to meet our diversity ambition for clinical trials," Jungersten said.
Walgreens has already announced several other contracts in the two years since its clinical trials program began, but this is the first Big Pharma company to be announced and the first in the obesity space. The company said other Big Pharma contracts have not yet been revealed.
Walgreens currently has 15 trial sites set up in pharmacy locations, of which two, in New Jersey, will be used for the BI trial, according to Walgreens chief clinical trials officer Ramita Tandon.
Patients will be flagged in Walgreens' system based on the drugs they are prescribed, as well as other qualifying factors, based on the trial parameters set by BI, she said.
"We are then digging into our own ecosystem and reviewing the prescription records, reviewing the social determinants of health information on the patient population, and then matching those patients to this particular phase three trial," Tandon said.
The company continues to build out trial sites based on where pharmaceutical companies are looking for greater access to diverse populations.
"Bringing clinical trials into these communities is ... a capital efficient way to leverage our ecosystem, our physical assets, our trust, our brand," Tandon said.
Anjalee Khemlani is the senior health reporter at Yahoo Finance, covering all things pharma, insurance, care services, digital health, PBMs, and health policy and politics. Follow Anjalee on all social media platforms @AnjKhem.
Read the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance
