Evotec's Academic Bridge LAB282 with Oxford University celebrating one year of impact

 

  • The £ 13 m drug discovery partnership between Oxford University, Oxford Sciences Innovation and Evotec supported 12 new projects in first year of operation 

 

Hamburg, Germany, 11 December 2017: Evotec AG (Frankfurt Stock Exchange: EVT, TecDAX, ISIN: DE0005664809) announced today that LAB282, the £ 13 m drug discovery partnership between Oxford University, Oxford Sciences Innovation and Evotec, is celebrating its first year of operation after successfully accelerating 12 drug discovery and development projects at the University.

In its recent fourth and latest round of awards, LAB282 backed the following Oxford projects:

  • Validation of novel targets for myelofibrosis, a severe bone marrow disorder
  • Development of glucosidase II interface inhibitors; towards a novel class of broad-spectrum antivirals
  • Discovery of potent inhibitors to DarG antitoxins as a first-in-class anti-microbial concept
  • Advancing the development of evasins, a novel class of chemokine-traps to treat inflammatory disorders

The LAB282 approach is an innovative approach to combining critical translational funding and focused expertise for early-stage projects that have demonstrated commercial promise and can be accelerated towards the market. Started in Oxford, the LAB282 model has now been exported to Canada in a partnership between Evotec and MaRS Innovation, and Evotec plans to unveil similar partnerships in the coming months.

A highly experienced Expert-in-Residence from Evotec works closely with Oxford academics to assess life sciences projects for their commercial potential. Once selected, Evotec continues to work closely with researchers to develop their ideas, providing essential technological validation, while leveraging the resources of Oxford Sciences Innovation, the £ 600 m university venture fund manager for the University.

Thomas Hanke, Expert-in-Residence at Evotec, said: "The first year of LAB282 has been a smooth integration into the Oxford ecosystem, generating an unprecedented number of projects compared to other virtual life sciences accelerators. The success to date speaks both to the quality of Oxford research and the Oxford/Evotec partnership." 

Adam Stoten, Chief Operating Officer at Oxford University Innovation, added: "We've seen an explosion of innovative ideas and companies from the University in the past couple of years. The success so far of LAB282 mirrors the progress made within the wider Oxford tech cluster, and should provide a pipeline of new, commercially validated therapeutic candidates to ensure that the Oxford Boom continues for many years to come." 

Andrew McLean, Principal at Oxford Sciences Innovation, added: "LAB282's ability to find and scale ideas in the University underlines what can be accomplished by bringing together the technical expertise of Evotec, the scientific strength of the University, and the resources of the world's largest university fund aimed at a single institution. We expect that many of the projects will evolve into companies that will ensure that revolutionary science is translated to medicines that treat human disease." 

About Oxford University Innovation

Oxford University Innovation supports innovation activities across all University Divisions, managing technology transfer and consulting activities, and providing an innovation management service to clients around the world. 
We provide access to technology from Oxford researchers through intellectual property licensing, spinout company formation and material sales, and to academic expertise through our Consulting Services team. The New Venture Support & Funding team supports investors or donors with an interest in early-stage ventures, and manages the Oxford Angels Network.
Our Startup Incubator supports members and ex-members of the University who wish to start or grow entrepreneur-driven ventures that are not University spinouts.
Oxford University Innovation is the highest university patent filer in the UK and is ranked 1st in the UK for university spinouts, having created over 160 new companies since 1988. In the last reported financial year we completed more than 45 licenses and consulting agreements every month. Oxentia, our innovation management consultancy, works with university, government and industrial clients from offices around the world. 
For updates on innovations from Oxford, follow Oxford University Innovation on LinkedIn and Twitter or subscribe at http://innovation.ox.ac.uk/about/contact-us/#enquiry.

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.