HAMBURG, Germany, Sept. 09, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Evotec AG (Frankfurt:EVT) (TecDAX) (ISIN:DE0005664809) today announced that it has signed an agreement on a four-year research collaboration with Pfizer Inc. in the field of tissue fibrosis.
Under the terms of this licence and collaboration agreement, scientists at Evotec and Pfizer will explore potential novel mechanisms as targeted anti-fibrotics in multi-organ fibrosis. Evotec will contribute its drug discovery platform whereas Pfizer will provide key technologies and industrial scope as well as pharmaceutical development and marketing expertise.
Financial terms of the collaboration include an upfront payment and potential milestone payments from Pfizer based on the achievement of specific development and sales milestones.
Dr Cord Dohrmann, Chief Scientific Officer of Evotec, commented: “We are proud about Pfizer partnering with us in our growing initiative in the fibrosis field utilising one of our internal programmes.”
Dr Charles MacKay, Chief Scientific Officer, Inflammation and Immunology at Pfizer, added: “We believe that Evotec’s discovery platform is well-positioned to deliver potentially innovative approaches to several areas of tissue fibrosis. We are excited about the possibilities of this agreement.”
Please click on the following link to watch a short video about this new collaboration:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCySUJ6WWgZ9aC0vcO0cs0EA
ABOUT TISSUE FIBROSIS
Fibrosis is a non-physiological wound healing process that can occur in multiple tissues in response to injury, including physical, chemical and immunological insults. The progressive accumulation of extracellular matrix proteins during the scarring process impairs organ recovery and leads to organ function failure. It is believed that approximately 40% of all natural deaths in the developed world can be attributed to chronic fibro-proliferative diseases1), in particular those of the liver, kidney, heart and lung. With the exception of pirfenidone and nintedanib, which were recently approved for treatment of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, there are no other effective therapies for the treatment of fibrosis. Thus, there remains a huge unmet medical need for patients with progressive organ function decline due to fibrosis.
1) Mehal, Wajahat Z, et al. Expressway to the core of fibrosis. In: Nature Medicine, Vol. 17, No. 5. Nature America, Inc.; 2011.
ABOUT EVOTEC AG
Evotec is a drug discovery alliance and development partnership company focused on rapidly progressing innovative product approaches with leading pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, academics, patient advocacy groups and venture capitalists. We operate worldwide providing the highest quality stand-alone and integrated drug discovery solutions, covering all activities from target-to-clinic. The Company has established a unique position by assembling top-class scientific experts and integrating state-of-the-art technologies as well as substantial experience and expertise in key therapeutic areas including neuroscience, pain, metabolic diseases as well as oncology, inflammation and infectious diseases. Evotec has long-term discovery alliances with partners including Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, CHDI, Genentech, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, MedImmune/AstraZeneca, Roche and UCB. In addition, the Company has existing development partnerships and product candidates both in clinical and pre-clinical development. These include partnerships with Boehringer Ingelheim and MedImmune in the field of diabetes, with Janssen Pharmaceuticals in the field of depression and with Roche in the field of Alzheimer’s disease. For additional information please go to www.evotec.com.
FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS — Information set forth in this press release contains forward-looking statements, which involve a number of risks and uncertainties. The forward-looking statements contained herein represent the judgement of Evotec as of the date of this report. Such forward-looking statements are neither promises nor guarantees, but are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond our control, and which could cause actual results to differ materially from those contemplated in these forward-looking statements. We expressly disclaim any obligation or undertaking to release publicly any updates or revisions to any such statements to reflect any change in our expectations or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any such statement is based.