Renal Diseases

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) affects 835 million people globally. CKD is ranked at the 12th position in overall causes of death from non-infectious diseases. Despite recent advances, it is poised to rise to the 5th position in the coming years (Kovesdy, 2022). Clinical successes seen with GLP1 RA, SGLT2i and the ns-MRA finerenone, merely bring the total treatment options to just 5 drug classes. Leaving significant unmet medical needs and a unique opportunity to make a difference in a developing area of pharmaceutical research.

We established robust and comprehensive discovery platforms for:

• Chronic kidney diseases: Diabetic kidney disease, glomerulonephritis, tubulointerstitial nephritis, immune-driven renal diseases etc
• Rare kidney diseases: ADPKD, Lupus Nephritis, ANCA Vasculitis etc
• Acute kidney Injury

Our Renal Team is constituted by biopharma experts with long-term experience in drug discovery and a passion for understanding diseases mechanisms at a molecular level. Our cutting edge technologies and platforms allow us to translate this expertise into effective precision medicines.

_{*imaged/acquired by NIPOKA (GmbH)}

Evotec has over 20 years of expertise in drug discovery for metabolic and renal diseases. Our team of expert kidney biologists has developed a sophisticated panel of in vivo and in vitro resources that enabled over 100 renal diseases projects to date. Most recently, we have assembled a unique biorepository of kidney, blood and biofluid samples within a new molecular patient database (E.MPD). This unique collection of detailed biomedical and molecular profiles includes data on more than 10,000 Chronic kidney diseases patients. Our kidney biologists and drug discovery experts constantly leverage the latest high-definition PanOmics capabilities and have applied them to build a complete catalogue of molecularly defined in vitro cell systems, in vivo disease models that complement ideally the molecular kidney patient data.

Our high-throughput bioassay platforms recapitulate the complex biology and unique cellular diversity which are typical of renal tissues. To cite just a few, the renal platform offers podocytes, mesangial cells, glomerular endothelial cells, tubular epithelial cells and renal fibroblasts assays associated with a large panel of physiological readouts.

Our biologists also developed and validated human iPSC-derived renal 2D and 3D systems for translational research or high-throughput screening.

By integrating E.MPD data with extended PanOmics resources and AI-driven analyses, our team routinely supports new targets or markers identification and supports project progression with all known therapeutic modalities.

Our disease experts support early-to-late stages drug discovery with:

• Identification of molecular markers of disease progression and treatment intervention
• Selection of specific responder populations and indications using molecular signatures
• Patient data driven target identification

Supporting evidence can be directly sourced in our exclusive multiomics datasets originating from patients tissues and biofluids. Clinically relevant genes and pathways can be identified to specifically support progression of candidate targets or modalities for rare, as well as large indications of kidney diseases. Our global success results from the collaborative work between disease experts, biologists and bioinformaticians, working alongside safety, chemistry, DMPK and preclinical development teams in an integrated drug discovery value chain. Together, we derisk translational cascades and the progression of preclinical candidates towards successful clinical candidates across multiple indications. Our success stories are periodically reported in high-level publications and international conferences (American Society for Nephrology, European Renal Association). 

In summary, in vitro and in vivo translational assays together with analyses of PanOmics data from renal patients help derisking preclinical development and improve the probability of success in the clinics.

Our in vivo platform offers a wide variety of established and validated models in the area of acute and chronic kidney diseases:

Surgically Induced Models

• UUO: unilateral uretheral obstruction
• Uni- or bi-lateral IRI: ischemic-reperfusion injury

Models of Diabetic Kidney Disease

• db/db uNx renin AAV
• ZSF1

In full compliance with our animal welfare AALAC accreditation, our in vivo team meets the highest standards of quality and technical expertise. We feature a large set of preclinical readouts directly relevant for Renal & Metabolic diseases. Typical offerings include readouts of kidney function, mechanisms of action, histopathology, molecular profiling and immune cell infiltration.