Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) is among the deadliest diseases in the world. About 213 million people are affected globally, and roughly 3.7 million die from it each year. The World Health Organisation (WHO) expects it to be among the three leading causes of death worldwide by 2030. Every approved therapy today manages symptoms while the disease continues to progress. None stops it, and none restores what has been lost.
The scientific foundation of the program is the work of Yildirim’s group, which decoded a key molecular pathway driving lung destruction in COPD. In mouse models, engaging this pathway regenerated lung tissue even under continued exposure to cigarette smoke. The biological route to an innovative curative COPD therapy is therefore established.
Helmholtz Munich and Khumbu will now join forces to co‑develop drug candidates that effectively target this pathway. Khumbu takes over the full molecular design, developing novel drug candidates from scratch with its World Model for Molecular Biology. Yildirim’s lab evaluates the selected compounds in its advanced disease models, closing a tight loop between computational design and biological validation.
