Evotec Statement on COVID-19
Hamburg, Germany, last updated 01 February 2021:
Many of you have been asking us about the Coronavirus and its potential impact on Evotec and its affiliates.
The COVID-19 pandemic continues to put a significant strain on the global healthcare systems and society as a whole. Many governments have responded with steps to try and reduce the rate of the spread through various measures, including travel restrictions, reduction of public gatherings and school closures.
At Evotec, we are actively managing our operations to maintain business continuity while taking measures to protect the health and wellbeing of our employees, their families and the local communities in which they live and work. We have taken a number of steps to ensure the continued health and safety of our colleagues and prepare our business during this challenging time. For example:
- Wherever we operate, our measures are fully in line with the guidelines and recommendations of the governmental authorities. Additionally, each site has a specific, dedicated team chaired by the respective Site Head to monitor the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, and take action where necessary
- Where stipulated by local authorities, we have deployed a remote-work model and where possible, our employees work at least partly from home
- We have surveyed our supply chain and are actively managing supplies to maintain business continuity
- We have locally tailored business continuity plans in place to anticipate and react appropriately, as the situation evolves territory-by-territory
- We can confirm that at present Evotec continues to operate in all of our locations globally
Furthermore, we are involved in a number of activities in the global fight against COVID-19, which include:
- We are part of the NIH-led initiative Accelerating COVID-19 Therapeutic Interventions and Vaccines (“ACTIV”), a public-private partnership aiming to develop a framework for prioritising vaccine and drug candidates, streamlining clinical trials, coordinating regulatory processes, and/or leveraging assets among all partners to rapidly respond to the COVID-19 and future pandemics
- We have joined “COVID R&D”, the global crowdsourcing initiative among top pharmaceutical company R&D leaders aimed at facilitating therapies and vaccines against COVID-19, where we will be sponsoring the pre-clinical repurposing group to channel candidate molecules from consortium members or external sources to COVID R&D
- We have supported and collaborated with some local hospitals to assist them with analysing their tests
- Through our Seattle-based subsidiary Just – Evotec Biologics, Inc., we have been supporting Ology Bioservices, Inc. (“Ology Bio”) with screening and analytical characterisation services for antibodies against SARS-CoV-2. The work is part of a contract awarded to Ology Bio by the Department of Defense Joint Program Executive Office for Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Defense Enabling Biotechnologies (“JPEO-CBRND-EB”)
- Furthermore, Just – Evotec Biologics has been collaborating with the U.S. Department of Defense (“DOD”) in a project to select and rapidly develop high-yielding production processes for anti-SARS-CoV2 monoclonal antibodies (“mAbs”). In a separate but related agreement, the DOD awarded Just – Evotec Biologics a contract for the production of mAbs for use in the development of a treatment and/or prophylaxis for COVID-19, with additional biomanufacturing capacity being reserved for the DOD in Just – Evotec Biologics’ soon-to-be-completed J.POD® facility in Redmond, Washington over a seven-year period
Our scientific teams are in close dialogue with their partners and are providing project-specific information on a real-time basis. Further information will of course be provided if the situation should change significantly, but at present, we are pleased to be able to maintain all our operations during this period.