Hamburg, Germany | Oxford, UK - Evotec AG (Frankfurt Stock Exchange: EVT, TecDAX 30) announced the signing of two contracts with Solvay Pharmaceuticals, a member of the Solvay group specialising in global pharmaceutical R&D, manufacturing, sales and marketing.
 
In the first agreement Evotec has been chosen as Solvay's partner for fragment-based drug discovery. Solvay will access Evotec's proprietary fragment-based screening platform and fragment library to identify fragment hits against a high priority target. Evotec will produce 3-dimensional co-crystals of the fragment hits bound to the protein and then will use their track record in fragment-to-lead activities to further optimise the fragments. Evotec has validated their fragment-based drug discovery platform against various protein targets and have shown that the optimisation of resulting fragment hits can be achieved in reduced timelines when compared to industry standards. Key financial terms include an access fee payable by Solvay for accessing Evotec's fragment-based screening technology.
 
The second agreement extends an existing library synthesis contract for a further twelve months from 1 January 2007. Evotec has been synthesising and supplying chemical libraries to Solvay, for screening against targets in its drug discovery programmes, since January 2001. Impressed by the continual meeting of key delivery targets and the excellent communication and project management skills demonstrated by Evotec, Solvay made the decision to extend the original contract for the third time in six years.
 
"In 2000, after extensive due diligence, Solvay chose Evotec as its key partner to complement Solvay's in-house activities in the field of library synthesis. The design of multi-step libraries is the result of a collaborative partnership through which the specific strengths of the two companies are leveraged to achieve optimal chances of success. The expertise of Evotec's scientists in multi-step focused library synthesis and medicinal chemistry as well as the quality of the communication and a consistent track record of delivering on agreed project milestones has made Evotec a key part of the drug discovery process within Solvay," commented Prof Dr Chris Kruse, Discovery Program Manager, Solvay Pharmaceuticals.
 
"Evotec is delighted that Solvay has chosen to further extend our original agreement. In addition we are looking forward to collaborating with them on the new fragment-based drug discovery programme. We are confident that both these agreements will enable us to continue making significant contributions to Solvay's drug discovery programmes," said Dr Mark Ashton, Executive Vice President Business Development Services at Evotec.
 
Contact:
Anne Hennecke, Director, Investor Relations & Corporate Communications, Evotec AG, Phone: +49-40-56081-286, anne.hennecke@evotec.com