Evotec SE Announces Bristol Myers Squibb Opt-In of Evt8683 as the First Programme from IPSC-Based Neurodegeneration Collaboration
September 02, 2021 at 01:30 am EDT
Share
Evotec SE announced that Bristol Myers Squibb Company has exercised its option to enter into an exclusive global license for EVT8683 which comes from a broader neurodegeneration collaboration. EVT8683 is a small molecule targeting a key cellular stress response that holds great promise in various neurodegenerative indications and is ready to enter clinical development. The programme originated from a phenotypic screening approach based on Evotec's leading iPSC platform and reached IND filing within only 5 years. Under an option agreement with Celgene (which is now a Bristol Myers Squibb company), Bristol Myers Squibb has rights to additional programmes in neurodegenerative diseases. In neurodegeneration, currently approved drugs only offer short-term management of patients' symptoms and there is a huge unmet medical need for innovative therapies that slow down and reverse disease progression. The neurodegeneration alliance was built on Evotec's industrialised iPSC platform using patient-derived disease models, to discover and select potentially disease-modifying approaches for neurodegenerative diseases. Evotec's iPSC platform allows the screening of human iPSC-based disease models at high throughput in combination with unbiased transcriptome analysis. The seamless integration of the iPSC platform with Evotec's proven small molecule discovery and development capabilities all the way to IND filing enabled the development of EVT8683 in only 5 years from a cell based phenotypic screen to successful IND filing. Just 4.5 years after initiating the partnership, Bristol Myers Squibb has now exercised its option to enter into a global License Agreement for EVT8683. The programme targets a key cellular stress response mechanism which has the potential to deliver disease-modifying treatments for several devastating neurodegenerative diseases. Following the successful compound optimisation, the seamless integration from project initiation to IND, also using Evotec's INDiGO platform, led to the recent registration as an Investigational New Drug ("IND") with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Through this opt-in, Bristol Myers Squibb will lead further development and commercialisation. Evotec receives an option payment of $20 m and is eligible to earn up to $250 m in milestone payments and up to low double-digit royalties.
Evotec SE is a Germany-based drug discovery and development company. The company is engaged in development of new pharmaceutical products through research alliances and development partnerships with pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, academic institutions, patient organizations and venture capital companies. The drug discovery solutions are provided in the form of fee-for-service work, integrated drug discovery alliances, development partnerships, licensing of drug candidates and consulting arrangements. Evotec SE operates in a number of areas, including neuroscience, diabetes and complications of diabetes, pain and inflammation, oncology, infectious diseases, respiratory diseases and fibrosis. Its pipeline covers a range of therapeutic areas, such as CNS Insomnia, Chronic cough, immunology & inflammation, women's health endometriosis, nephrology, dermatological diseases, fibrotic disease and antiviral, among others.
EVOTEC SE 
