HAMBURG, Germany, March 11, 2010 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Evotec AG (Frankfurt:EVT) (TecDAX) today announced that it has entered into a collaboration with Active Biotech AB (Stockholm:ACTI) to identify small molecule modulators of a priority biological target, selected by Active Biotech, involved in immune disorders and cancer.
Evotec will use its expertise and technologies in assay development, high throughput screening (HTS) and surface plasmon resonance (SPR) screening for the identification and validation of novel hits. In order to maximise the probability of finding high quality medicinal chemistry starting points, Evotec will screen its Lead Discovery Library, a small molecule collection designed for diversity, novelty and quality.
Dorthe da Graça Thrige, Director of Development of Active Biotech, commented: "We have a high regard for Evotec's expertise and capabilities in assay development and compound screening. In addition, we are impressed with the excellent quality of Evotec's Lead Discovery Library, which we believe will enable us to generate high quality hits, ensuring a smooth transition to medicinal chemistry activities. Importantly, the hits identified in the HTS will complement the ongoing lead optimisation of compounds identified in-house."
Dr. Mark Ashton, Executive Vice President, Business Development of Evotec stated: "We are proud to have been selected by Active Biotech, a leading biotechnology company with advanced drug candidates in the area of immune modulation, to carry out hit identification activities on this important biological target. We look forward to supporting them in their quest to find novel treatments to address immune disorders and cancer."
Evotec has a unique assay development and screening platform built around proprietary and the latest commercial technologies providing a flexible and high quality approach to lead identification. Evotec has successfully developed assays and high throughput screens for all of the major target classes including GPCR's, kinases and other enzymes, ion channel and protein::protein interactions.
No financial details are disclosed.
About Evotec AG
Evotec is a leader in the discovery and development of novel small molecule drugs with operational sites in Europe and Asia. The Company has built substantial drug discovery expertise and an industrialised platform that can drive new innovative small molecule compounds into the clinic. In addition, Evotec has built a deep internal knowledge base in the treatment of diseases related to neuroscience, pain, and inflammation. Leveraging these skills and expertise the Company intends to develop best-in-class differentiated therapeutics and deliver superior science-driven discovery alliances with pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. Evotec has long-term discovery alliances with partners including Boehringer Ingelheim, CHDI, Novartis, Ono Pharmaceutical and Roche. Evotec has product candidates in clinical development and a series of preclinical compounds and development partnerships, including for example a strategic alliance with Roche for the EVT 100 compound family, subtype selective NMDA receptor antagonists for use in treatment-resistant depression. For additional information please go to www.evotec.com.
About Active Biotech AB
Active Biotech AB (Stockholm:ACTI) is a biotechnology company with focus on autoimmune/inflammatory diseases and cancer. Projects in pivotal phase are laquinimod, an orally administered small molecule with unique immunomodulatory properties for the treatment of multiple sclerosis, as well as ANYARA for use in cancer targeted therapy, primarily of renal cancer. Further key projects in clinical development comprise the three orally administered compounds TASQ for prostate cancer, 57-57 for SLE and RhuDexTM for RA. Please visit www.activebiotech.com for more information.
Forward-looking statements
Information set forth in this press release contains forward-looking statements, which involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Such forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements about our expectations and assumptions concerning our strategic collaborations, our regulatory, clinical and business strategies, the progress of our clinical development programmes and management's plans, objectives and strategies. These 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. In particular, the risks and uncertainties include, among other things: risks that product candidates may fail in the clinic or may not be successfully marketed or manufactured; the risk that we will not achieve the anticipated benefits of our collaborations, partnerships and acquisitions in the timeframes expected, or at all; risks relating to our ability to advance the development of product candidates currently in the pipeline or in clinical trials; our inability to further identify, develop and achieve commercial success for new products and technologies; the risk that competing products may be more successful; our inability to interest potential partners in our technologies and products; our inability to achieve commercial success for our products and technologies; our inability to protect our intellectual property and the cost of enforcing or defending our intellectual property rights; our failure to comply with regulations relating to our products and product candidates, including FDA requirements; the risk that the FDA may interpret the results of our studies differently than we have; the risk that clinical trials may not result in marketable products; the risk that we may be unable to successfully secure regulatory approval of and market our drug candidates; and risks of new, changing and competitive technologies and regulations in the U.S. and internationally.
The list of risks above is not exhaustive. Our most recent Annual Report on Form 20-F, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, and other documents filed with, or furnished to the Securities and Exchange Commission, contain additional factors that could impact our businesses and financial performance. 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.