Esperion Therapeutics, a Plymouth, Mich.-based biopharmaceutical company, has established a collaborative research agreement with Cleveland Clinic to research targeting new HDL therapies to treat cardiovascular disease.

The research will be led by Stanley L. Hazen, MD, PhD, director of the Center for Cardiovascular Diagnostics and Prevention at Cleveland Clinic, and Jonathan D. Smith, PhD, from the department of cell biology at Cleveland Clinic's Lerner Research Institute.

Esperion said its researchers are working to develop therapies to treat cardiometabolic disease including therapies based on HDL cholesterol. The company development platform includes therapies designed to mimic or enhance the function of HDL in managing and removing cholesterol and other lipids from atherosclerotic plaques.

Researchers at Esperion have initiated preclinical and clinical research related to lipid regulation to treat cardiometabolic diseases, from early risk factors to acute coronary syndromes and atherosclerosis.