Ember Therapeutics and Mariel Therapeutics entered into an agreement to merge the two companies into a combined entity to be named Ember Therapeutics. The new company will lead drug discovery and development in osteoarthritis and kidney fibrosis, a focus of Mariel, in addition to diabetic related diseases including obesity, which Ember is dedicated to finding therapies to treat.

The combined company said its clinical pipeline will include four drugs in development—one of which has completed Phase II trials in osteoarthritis and three that are close to entering Phase I.

Mariel is a New York-based biopharmaceutical company focused on the clinical application of Bone Morphogenetic Protein-7 (BMP-7) in osteoarthritis, chronic kidney disease, and Alport's syndrome, a genetic kidney fibrosis disease.

In July 2014, Mariel acquired the rights to over 450 issued and pending patents as well as related clinical and research data, and the associated biologic materials of BMP-7 from Stryker. BMP-7 was developed for the potential treatment of osteoarthritis, chronic kidney disease, and other organ fibrosis conditions, lupus, and obesity. The company said human recombinant BMP-7 has previously been used in reconstructive bone applications in more than 40,000 patients.

Ember Therapeutics, located in Boston, was launched in 2011. The company is harnessing breakthroughs in brown fat biology and insulin sensitization for the treatment of metabolic disease. Ember said its approach leverages recent research breakthroughs in brown fat biology to develop a pipeline of molecules, including BMP-7, designed to amplify the body's innate ability to efficiently burn fuels like glucose.

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