Oncology

Evotec has a long history of contributing to the oncology field through partners, achieving numerous oncology milestones including multiple PDCs, 14 clinical drugs and 1 marketed product.

Our dedicated oncology team assists pharmaceutical, biotech, not-for-profit and academic organisations in their drug discovery research activities offering a comprehensive panel of activities from target identification to IND through a highly sophisticated and integrated drug discovery platform.

Evotec has established a leading technology platform enabling the discovery, development and clinical translation of new cancer therapies. Evotec’s expertise includes the evaluation of small molecular weight compounds, natural compounds, biologics, cell therapies, gene therapies and vaccines.

With a team of ~150 scientists dedicated to oncology, Evotec has a significant background in a broad range of scientific areas, including tumour microenvironment, immuno-oncology, signal transduction, cancer metabolism, DNA damage and epigenetics.

Key capabilities of Evotec’s oncology discovery platform

In vitro biology

• Extensive expertise in molecular biology, biochemical, biophysical and cellular assay systems for oncology targets including kinases, metabolic enzymes and PPIs
• Target identification approaches via phenotypic or CRISPR screens and chemical biology
• Customised high-content imaging assays for phenotypic screening through to supporting lead optimisation
• In vitro antibody evaluation know-how strongly connected with biophysical methods (antibody biochemical characterisation and efficacy evaluation)
• Specific assays to study the microenvironment (immune cells, fibroblasts, adipocytes, endothelial cells), targeted therapy resistance, and drug impact on cancer metabolism

In vivo pharmacology

• Establishment of PK/PD relationships using target engagement or surrogate markers
• Syngeneic, orthotopic tumour xenografts to track anti-tumour and microenvironment effects
• Development of novel models, as well as humanised mouse, spontaneous metastasis, angiogenesis and alopecia models
• Histology, morphometric analysis, immune- and MS-based approaches combined with in vivo pharmacology to analyse disease-relevant biomarkers

Biomarkers

• RNA-Seq and single cell RNA-Seq transcriptomics supported by proprietary bioinformatics tools for data mining and pathways analysis
• Leading mass spectrometry-based proteomics, metabolomics and lipidomics for  MoA studies and biomarker discovery
• Establishment of protocols for transfer to the clinic, including Ventana IHC platform, MSD, Simple Western, flow cytometry, ELIspot and blood biochemistry
• Access to patient material for biomarker validation and ex vivo studies

Structure-based drug design-driven medicinal chemistry

• Experienced structural biology, computational and medicinal chemistry teams working in synergy to optimise both orthosteric and allosteric screening hits through rapid cycle times
  

Additional capabilities such as Evotec’s high-throughput screening, bioinformatics research, DMPK and reagent production platforms can also be accessed to support and accelerate your oncology programmes.