• Integration of the J.CHO High Expression System with Just – Evotec Biologics’ continuous bioprocessing platform offers high titers, high product quality and reduction of Cost of Goods Manufactured (“COGM”)

Seattle, WA, USA, 26 April 2024: Just – Evotec Biologics, the biologics segment of Evotec SE (Frankfurt Stock Exchange: EVT, MDAX/TecDAX, ISIN: DE0005664809; NASDAQ: EVO) today announced the launch of its proprietary J.CHO™ High Expression System (“J.CHO”) for antibody expression. As part of Just – Evotec Biologics’ highly-intensified continuous bioprocessing platform, J.CHO™ optimises clinical and commercial biotherapeutic production processes by providing higher productivity and high quality of complex antibody formats, including candidate antibodies, Fc-fusions, and bispecific antibodies.

Chinese hamster ovary (“CHO”) cells are a crucial part of the biologics value chain, accounting for >70% of recombinant therapeutic protein production. While CHO cells have superior capabilities in protein expression, scalability, genetic engineering, and media adaptability, the productivity varies significantly between commercially available cell lines.

J.CHO™ cell lines are engineered glutamine synthetase (“GS”) knockout cell lines adapted to grow in Just-Evotec's chemically-defined perfusion media developed for intensified, continuous manufacturing. J.CHO™ cells achieve exceptionally high antibody titers of over 4 g/L/day in perfusion, equivalent to approximately 30 g/L/day in fed-batch. The lead J.CHO™ host cell line was selected for high expression and excellent performance in perfusion cell culture. Alternative J.CHO™ cell lines that have been selected to provide glycan diversity to match the specific product quality requirements are also available.

Key Product Features

1. Engineered GS knockout CHO-K1 host cell lines capable of delivering specific productivities of more than 50 pg/cell/day and growing at target densities of 60-100 million cells/mL.
2. Transposon-based expression vectors with strong promoter sequences allowing stable integration and high expression of genes-of-interest.
3. Proprietary chemically defined, protein-free and dual sourced perfusion cell culture media.
4. Cell lines optimized for Just – Evotec Biologics’ upstream perfusion platform process and scalable directly from 3L to 1000L bioreactors for clinical or commercial production.

Dr Linda Zuckerman, Executive Vice President Global Head Biotherapeutics at Just – Evotec Biologics, commented: “The launch of J.CHO™, our own high-yielding cell line is a step further on our mission to dramatically expand global access to biotherapeutics. As part of Just – Evotec Biologics’ technology platform, J.CHO™ will help unlock the potential of biologics, providing elevated levels of productivity and quality while optimising clinical and commercial biotherapeutic production processes at a lower cost of goods.”

Integrated with Just – Evotec Biologics’ proprietary technology platform for biologics development and highly intensified continuous bioprocessing, J.CHO™ contributes to significantly reducing COGM. With J.CHO™, cell line development can be integrated with Just – Evotec Biologics’ proprietary J.MD™ Molecule Design suite of services allowing to produce multiple variants of a candidate antibody with improved developability characteristics. Benefits include:

• Identification of antibody candidate variants with excellent manufacturability properties that have shown to increase titer by 3-fold compared to parental sequences.
• More representative material produced for testing by expression in stable pools versus transient expression.
• Time savings of up to two months by combining candidate development with cell line development.

To learn more about J.CHO™, please visit https://www.evotec.com/en/just-evotec-biologics/cell-line-development.

ABOUT JUST-EVOTEC BIOLOGICS
Just – Evotec Biologics, wholly owned by Evotec SE, is a first-to-industry biologics platform company that leverages AI/ML technologies and world-leading molecular design, cell line development, process intensification and continuous manufacturing strategies to advance biotherapeutics from discovery through clinical stages to commercial launch. The Just – Evotec Biologics team combines deep industry experience in the fields of data, protein, process, and manufacturing sciences including automation with highly integrated and flexible capabilities to break through the scientific and economic barriers associated with the development of protein therapeutics. Our focus is to accelerate and expand access to biotherapeutics through scientific and technological innovation for our proprietary projects and on behalf of our partners. Learn more at www.just-evotecbiologics.com.

ABOUT EVOTEC SE
Evotec is a life science company with a unique business model that delivers on its mission to discover and develop highly effective therapeutics and make them available to the patients. The Company’s multimodality platform comprises a unique combination of innovative technologies, data and science for the discovery, development, and production of first-in-class and best-in-class pharmaceutical products. Evotec provides high value pipeline co-creating partnerships and solutions to all Top 20 Pharma and over 800 biotechnology companies, academic institutions, as well as other healthcare stakeholders. Evotec has strategic activities in a broad range of currently underserved therapeutic areas, including e.g. neurology, oncology, as well as metabolic and infectious diseases. Within these areas of expertise, Evotec aims to create the world-leading co-owned pipeline for innovative therapeutics and has to-date established a portfolio of more than 200 proprietary and co-owned R&D projects from early discovery to clinical development. Evotec operates globally with more than 5,000 highly qualified people. The Company’s 17 sites offer highly synergistic technologies and services and operate as complementary clusters of excellence. For additional information please go to www.evotec.com and follow us on X/Twitter @Evotec and LinkedIn.

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
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