Evotec SE: translational BRIDGE partnership beLAB2122 selects oncology project from Goethe University Frankfurt

 

  • GOAL IS TO DEVELOP A BIFUNCTIONAL DEGRADER TO INTERFERE WITH THE RNA SPLICING TO DEVELOP A FIRST-IN-CLASS CANCER TREATMENT 
  • PROJECT ORIGINATES FROM PROF. DR IVAN ĐIKIĆ’S LAB GROUP AT THE GOETHE UNIVERSITY OF FRANKFURT
  • BELAB2122 AIMS TO DEVELOP ACADEMIC PROJECTS FROM THE RHINE-MAIN-NECKAR REGION OF GERMANY TO VALUE INFLECTION POINTS THAT ALLOW THE FORMATION OF NEW JOINTLY OWNED SPIN-OFF COMPANIES

Hamburg, Germany, 04 July 2022:
Evotec SE (Frankfurt Stock Exchange: EVT, MDAX/TecDAX, ISIN: DE0005664809; NASDAQ: EVO) announced today that a project has been selected for further development within beLAB2122, a translational BRIDGE collaboration between Evotec and Bristol Myers Squibb. beLAB2122 aims to bring together leading academic institutions from the Rhine-Main-Neckar region of Germany to efficiently advance first-in-class therapeutic options across all therapeutic areas and formats into investable drug discovery and early development projects.

The project originates from the lab group of Prof. Dr Ivan Đikić, Molecular biologist and Director of the Institute for Biochemistry II at the Goethe University Frankfurt and was initiated by Innovectis, a technology transfer company of the Goethe University. The project aims at using a bifunctional degrader to selectively target an enzyme with high relevance for the splicing of RNA as a novel pathway in cancer. beLAB2122 will leverage Evotec’s integrated discovery and development platform to validate the approach further and develop a potential first-in-class programme as a treatment for certain cancer types.

beLAB2122 was founded in April 2021 as a translational collaboration between Evotec and Bristol Myers Squibb. The project from the University of Frankfurt marks the second project to be developed within this academic BRIDGE collaboration. The goal of beLAB2122 is to develop academic projects to value inflection points that allow the formation of new jointly owned spin-off companies.

Dr Thomas Hanke, EVP & Head of Academic Partnerships at Evotec, commented: “We are very excited about this project with the Goethe University Frankfurt within the beLAB2122 collaboration. The project addresses a highly promising therapeutic mechanism and holds the potential for a novel oncology treatment. With BRIDGE collaborations such as beLAB2122, Evotec aims at accelerating academic innovations into drug discovery to allow new company formations. We are keen to see the first results and look forward to progressing this and many more interesting academic projects.”

Prof. Dr Ivan Đikić, Molecular biologist and Director of the Institute for Biochemistry II at the Goethe University Frankfurt, added: “This programme offers an excellent opportunity for academic researchers to collaborate with pharma partners in the early discovery stage. The major benefit of working together is to provide faster and better validation of promising therapeutic targets and enable rapid translation, e.g. by creating jointly owned spin-off companies. This also adds an important facet to scientific training and is therefore of enormous value to Goethe University.” 

Please follow this link to the press releases from Goethe-University, Frankfurt am Main.

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS 
This announcement contains forward-looking statements concerning future events, including the proposed offering and listing of Evotec’s securities. Words such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “may,” “might,” “plan,” “potential,” “should,” “target,” “would” and variations of such words and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Such statements include comments regarding Evotec’s expectations for revenues, Group EBITDA and unpartnered R&D expenses. These forward-looking statements are based on the information available to, and the expectations and assumptions deemed reasonable by Evotec at the time these statements were made. No assurance can be given that such expectations will prove to have been correct. These statements involve known and unknown risks and are based upon a number of assumptions and estimates, which are inherently subject to significant uncertainties and contingencies, many of which are beyond the control of Evotec. Evotec expressly disclaims any obligations or undertaking to release publicly any updates or revisions to any forward-looking statements contained herein to reflect any change in Evotec’s expectations with respect thereto or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any statement is based.