- The drug discovery partnership between Oxford University, Evotec and Oxford Sciences Innovation awards five new life sciences projects
Hamburg, Germany, 22 June 2017: Evotec AG (Frankfurt Stock Exchange: EVT, TecDAX, ISIN: DE0005664809) announced today that LAB282, the drug discovery BRIDGE between Oxford University, has made its second round of awards to support promising life sciences ideas emerging from the University.
LAB282 is providing critical early stage guidance and industry validation to novel therapeutic concepts. LAB282's steering committee decided to support five of those concepts with significant awards:
- A novel treatment concept to inhibit chemotherapy-induced nerve damage
- A potential new class of antibiotics
- A new target for the treatment of heart failure
- Therapeutics for chronic inflammatory disorders of the digestive system
- Potential relief from rheumatoid arthritis
Combined with financial support the five projects will receive ongoing translational support from Oxford University Innovation ("OUI"), the University's research commercialisation company, and full access to Evotec's pre-clinical platforms and expertise. LAB282 funding and expertise will facilitate the scale-up of these projects to the point that they can become fully-fledged, successful Oxford University spin-out companies, and turn their ideas into pre-clinical proof-of-concept and clinical-stage therapeutic applications.
Dr Thomas Hanke, Evotec's LAB282 Expert-in-Residence, said: "LAB282 is exceeding expectations, having already identified seven projects overall which the partnership is now accelerating towards seed funding-readiness. Our BRIDGE model is bringing together world-class research, global life sciences leadership and expertise, and an investor which understands the sector and is bold enough to back it all the way . We're already beginning to see this partnership bloom, and everyone involved in the partnership knows that this is just the start."
"With Lab282, we have created the first strategic academic BRIDGE fund. This is a highly innovative partnership and conceptual framework which we plan to roll-out to many more innovation hot-spots", added Dr Werner Lanthaler, Chief Executive Officer of Evotec.
Carolyn Porter, Deputy Head of Technology Transfer, Oxford University Innovation, added: "The partnership between university, finance and corporates to provide much needed resources at the early stage is a rare one. However, we are dealing with bold, pioneering research and we must find bold, pioneering ways to exploit these ideas and ensure they have a positive impact on society, the economy, and the wider world. We are encouraged by the breadth of projects funded to date which speaks to this impact occurring across multiple therapeutic areas."
LAB282 plans to hold four funding rounds annually over its three-year lifetime, with the intention of supporting the creation of at least five new Oxford University spin-outs. Founded in November 2016, LAB282 is a partnership between OUI, acting on behalf of the University, Oxford Sciences Innovation and Germany-based global biotech company Evotec.