At Evotec’s Headquarters in Hamburg, a new lab building is currently under construction. The 12,000-square-metre building will be used primarily for laboratories for innovative research using human induced pluripotent stem cells (“iPSCs”). These versatile cells provide opportunities for drug screenings in human cellular models. The expansion is expected to be completed in 2024.
Dr Werner Lanthaler, Chief Executive Officer of Evotec, commented: “We were honoured to have been selected by the City of Hamburg and the IFB Hamburg for funding from the ERDF/REACT-EU programme. The expansion of our HTS facilities in Hamburg, which are operational and in use since earlier in 2023, together with our existing ones at Evotec’s second HTS site in Toulouse, allow us to expand our own research as well as cater to even more partners to strengthens Hamburg as an economic and research hub.”
Dr Melanie Leonhard, Senator for Economic Affairs in Hamburg, said: “Not so long ago, we experienced how Covid-19 confronted us globally with huge problems - today, research is being done here on solutions for this and comparable problems of the future. I am deeply impressed by the innovative power with which the Hamburg-based company Evotec is driving research and development at world level. The life sciences sector plays an important role for the economy in the metropolitan region: numerous world market leaders, but also small and medium-sized companies from medical technology, biotech and pharmaceuticals contribute to global health care from here.”
Ralf Sommer, Chief Executive Officer at IFB Hamburg, added: "With the expansion of Evotec's research facilities, the European ERDF/REACT-EU funds will help us to be better prepared for possible future pandemics by accelerating drug development. In addition, thanks to the funding, Hamburg will be further expanded as an innovation location and new highly qualified jobs will be created in the Hanseatic city."
About High-Throughput Screening
High-throughput screening (HTS) is a technology for the discovery of new therapeutics. Many substances are screened in the HTS system for their interaction with specific target structures. The interaction is intended to achieve a specific therapeutic effect. The automation of screening makes it possible to screen substance libraries with several million so-called “compounds” within a few days. The technology is based on the research of Evotec co-founder Prof. Dr Manfred Eigen and mimics evolution in nature, in which (almost) all possible combinations are tried out - and the successful compounds eventually prevail. "Evolutionary technology" also gave its name to Evotec, which launched the first high-throughput screening system miniaturised to microlitres in 2000.
About PRROTECT
To prepare for future pandemics, Evotec has initiated the global network initiative PRROTECT (pandemic Preparedness and Rapid RespOnse TEChnology plaTform). PRROTECT builds on Evotec's existing portfolio of antiviral therapeutics and leverages the Company's platform to further expand the existing multimodal viral threat pipeline while accelerating the timelines for discovery and development of neutralising antibodies and building a flexible manufacturing network to rapidly deliver such therapeutics in the event of a future pandemic.