• The creation of Lab031 is designed to translate academic research into drug discovery candidates
  • Evotec aims to generate multiple lead candidates for Sanofi over three years across multiple therapeutic categories

HAMBURG, Germany I October 4, 2018 I Evotec AG (Frankfurt Stock Exchange: EVT, MDAX/TecDAX, ISIN: DE0005664809) announced today that it has established an initiative with Sanofi through the launch of a newly created BRIDGE, called LAB031, designed to accelerate drug discovery across multiple therapeutic areas.

The BRIDGE LAB031 collaboration enables Evotec to access resources to enter research collaborations with academic institutions worldwide to collaborate on early-stage translational projects addressing indications in disease areas with a high unmet medical need. Over the next three years, the companies will focus on the generation and advancement of multiple small molecule programmes through the lead optimisation.

Evotec will apply its industry-leading discovery technologies to these projects to facilitate rapid and efficient drug discovery and development. For each project, Sanofi has the option to assume development responsibility upon the achievement of pre-agreed milestone criteria.

Dr Werner Lanthaler, Chief Executive Officer of Evotec, said: “This BRIDGE announced today is another strategic expansion of Evotec’s relationship with Sanofi. Supporting academic initiatives globally through BRIDGEs is designed to enable Evotec to validate translational ideas more efficiently.”

“We are pleased to expand our relationship with Evotec and establish LAB031. Sanofi is focused on identifying the best resources available in order to translate academic innovation into clinical assets,” said Shiv Krishnan, Head of Technology Platforms, Global Business Development & Licensing, at Sanofi. 

The name of the BRIDGE “LAB031” refers to the departmental code of the Garonne where Toulouse, France has been the birthplace for fruitful collaborations between Sanofi and Evotec.

ABOUT BRIDGES

In 2016, Evotec established its BRIDGE initiatives: Innovative public-private partnerships that combine core strengths of academia, biotech and venture capital with strong links into Pharma ‘under one roof’. BRIDGEs are initiatives designed to accelerate multiple translational projects across therapeutic areas to pre-clinical proof-of-concept or other major value inflection points. The first BRIDGE, LAB282, was set up with the University of Oxford and Oxford Sciences Innovation, followed by LAB150 in Toronto, Canada, with MaRS Innovation and its 15 affiliated hospitals and universities and LAB591 together with Arix Bioscience and the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. For more information about Evotec’s BRIDGE initiatives, please go to www.evotec.com/en/innovate/bridges.

SOURCE: Evotec