Hamburg, Germany - 02 September 2015: Evotec AG (Frankfurt Stock Exchange: EVT, TecDAX, ISIN: DE0005664809) today announced that CHDI Foundation, Inc. ("CHDI") has extended and expanded its collaboration with Evotec through to August 2018. Over this period CHDI will fund 55 full-time scientists at Evotec. The collaboration-which aims to find new treatments for Huntington's disease, an inherited neurodegenerative disorder-will take advantage of additional technologies, capabilities and capacities at Evotec's facilities in Toulouse, France, and Princeton, NJ, USA.
The collaboration was initiated in 2006 and has grown considerably over this period to fully utilise Evotec's best-in-class integrated neuroscience platform. The extension of this collaboration is a further validation of Evotec's investment in new technologies and capabilities in support of driving innovative drug discovery collaborations. Evotec provides CHDI with a full range of research activities and expertise in the neuroscience area, including integrated biology and chemistry supported by compound and library management, target validation, stem cell research, high-content screening, computational chemistry, in vitro pharmacokinetics and protein production.
Dr Mario Polywka, Chief Operating Officer of Evotec, commented: "We are delighted to continue our collaboration with CHDI and this extension clearly illustrates that CHDI values our commitment to expanding both our capabilities and capacity. We look forward to continuing working closely with our colleagues at CHDI to rapidly discover novel drugs against Huntington's disease targets."
"Evotec represents one of our largest and longest standing relationships and continues to be an important strategic partner in our search for meaningful therapies for Huntington's disease families", added Dr Robert Pacifici, Chief Scientific Officer at CHDI. "Their integrated drug discovery capabilities are helping us discover novel targets and to advance drug candidates towards the clinic and we look forward to continuing to work with Evotec over the coming years."