We’re proud to share that Evotec contributed to a groundbreaking study published in Nature, led by a collaborative team including J&J and LSHTM with Dirk A. Lamprecht and Anil Koul.

The paper presents JNJ-6640, a first-in-class small-molecule inhibitor of PurF, the initiating enzyme in the de novo purine biosynthesis pathway of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. This novel mechanism disrupts bacterial DNA replication and shows potent activity against drug-resistant TB strains.

Evotec's intramacrophage and foamy macrophage assays played a key role in characterizing the compound’s efficacy in physiologically relevant host environments—helping to validate its potential as a therapeutic candidate.

This work opens a promising new therapeutic avenue in TB drug discovery.