Evotec OAI and Byk Gulden/Altana Enter into a Collaboration

Hamburg, Germany / Abingdon, UK - Evotec OAI AG, Hamburg, Germany (Neuer Markt: EVT), a supplier of integrated high-value added drug discovery services, announced today a contract agreement with Byk Gulden Lomberg Chemische Fabrik GmbH, Altana AG's pharmaceutical group, Konstanz, Germany. In close collaboration with Byk Gulden, Evotec OAI will start a novel assay development programme based on Evotec OAI's novel detection platform for high throughput imaging.
 
Following successful development of the assay principle, Byk Gulden will acquire Evotec OAI's cell reader and will integrate it into its own screening systems. Evotec OAI has the right to use this application in the Company's service offering. Financial terms of the collaboration were not disclosed.
 
Joern Aldag, Evotec OAI's President and CEO, said:
"We are delighted about this new and promising collaboration with Byk Gulden. Applying Evotec OAI's leading-edge technologies, we once again demonstrate our competence in developing highly innovative assay systems tailored to our partners' requirements while supporting our clients in their drug discovery efforts. With  this co-operation, we will also use for the first time our novel detection system for the analysis of cellular assays."
 
Dr. Hans-Joachim Lohrisch, Byk Gulden's CEO, stated:
"The cooperation with our partner Evotec OAI is a further, integral part of our net of internal efforts and external cooperations aimed at speeding up drug discovery and to secure product supply by new genomic technologies.   The assay principle and detection system developed together with Evotec OAI will allow further, innovative applications in our HTS-systems."
 
High Throughput Imaging
Evotec OAI has now added another detection method beyond the single molecule analysis (FCS+plus). It produces and analyses confocal microscopical images of high spatial resolution. Intra-cellular activities can thus be visualised and for the first time recorded precisely in an uHTS format. The detector is able to handle on-line more than 200,000 high-resolution images per day. The platform may also be applied to biochemical assays that do not require single molecule detection but analyse extremely low concentrations in a high throughput mode.
 
About Evotec OAI
Evotec OAI offers the full range of high-value added products and services required to discover and develop drugs more effectively and efficiently.  By integrating accelerated methods in biology, chemistry and screening, the Company has established a unique position as a one-stop-shop for all the critical elements in the drug discovery research and development process from target to clinical development. Approximately 540 people are based in Hamburg, Germany and Abingdon, U.K.  Evotec OAI already has close links with many of the leading companies in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries including Novartis, Pfizer, GlaxoSmithKline, Aventis, Pharmacia/Sugen, Eli Lilly, Bayer, BMS, Roche, Amgen, Biogen, Vertex, Serono and Immunex.  The Company's shares are listed on the Neuer Markt of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange.
 
About Altana
Altana AG is an international pharmaceutical and chemical group with a turnover of approx. 2 billion Euro and over 9,300 employees world-wide. Their pharmaceutical division Byk Gulden (Konstanz, Germany) focuses on therapeutics, diagnostics and OTC medication and is dedicated to innovative pharmaceutical research (gastroenterology, respiratory tracts, oncology). Byk Gulden, headquartered in
Konstanz, Germany, represents a group of 28 affiliates and associated companies in Europe, North America, South America, and Asia.