• TAKEDA LEVERAGES EVOTEC’S NEW GENE THERAPY UNIT TO ACCELERATE RESEARCH PROGRAMMES ACROSS TAKEDA’S THERAPEUTIC AREAS
• MULTI-YEAR ALLIANCE FUELS EXPANSION OF EVOTEC GENE THERAPY (“EVOTEC GT”)

Hamburg, Germany, 06 April 2020:
Evotec SE (Frankfurt Stock Exchange: EVT, MDAX/TecDAX, ISIN: DE0005664809) today announced that Evotec GT, with operations in Austria, has established a long-term research alliance with Takeda to support Takeda’s growing number of research stage gene therapy discovery programmes.

Evotec GT is an integral part of Evotec’s integrated fully modality-agnostic drug discovery platform that combines all activities involved with the discovery, development, and manufacturing of therapeutics along the value chain. 

Under the alliance, Evotec will support multiple Takeda programmes targeting conditions aligned with Takeda’s four core therapeutic areas: Oncology, Rare Diseases, Neuroscience and Gastroenterology. The alliance leverages Evotec’s growing gene therapy capabilities as well as Evotec’s broader drug discovery platform. 

Dr Steven Hitchcock, Global Head of Research for Takeda, said: “We are excited to be broadening and expanding our discovery efforts with the Evotec team. Gene therapy is a growing therapeutic approach in our portfolio and this alliance with Evotec will help us further accelerate our delivery of transformative therapies for patients, particularly those with rare diseases.”

Dr Craig Johnstone, Chief Operating Officer of Evotec, commented: “We’re pleased to expand the scope of our collaboration with Takeda into gene therapy by establishing an alliance with Takeda. This new alliance demonstrates the value of our multimodality platform with innovative technologies and best-in-class execution for addressing the most urgent requirements of our partners. Relationships like this will transform industry’s approach to drug discovery and development to ultimately find new therapies.”

No financial details of the agreement were disclosed.

FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS

Information set forth in this press release contains forward-looking statements, which involve a number of risks and uncertainties. The forward-looking statements contained herein represent the judgement of Evotec as of the date of this press release. Such forward-looking 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. 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.