Evotec AG acquires NMR Fragment-Based Drug Discovery Business from MerLion Pharmaceuticals’ subsidiary, Combinature Biopharm AG
2007-06-13 - Evotec AG (Frankfurt Stock Exchange: EVT) announced today that it has enhanced its
Fragment-Based Drug Discovery business through the acquisition of selected assets
from Combinature Biopharm. Evotec has acquired equipment and expertise in NMR
screening as well as access to the SAR-by-NMRTM intellectual property, licensed from
Abbott Laboratories. Through the addition of these assets, Evotec is able to integrate
NMR-based screening technologies together with the SAR-by-NMR™ technique with its
proprietary high throughput high concentration biochemical assay approach, offering a
unique solution for Fragment-Based Drug Discovery for its internal pipeline of projects
for partnering and also for collaborative research. In addition, the acquisition will add a
library of fragments augmenting Evotec’s fragment library to 30,000, the largest available
fragment library for commercial screening.
Evotec’s Innovation Centre for Fragment Based Drug Discovery (FBDD)
Evotec has established a unique and powerful platform for Fragment-Based Drug
Discovery (FBDD). Its EVOlutionTM technology is used to screen its library of fragments
in a high throughput mode and to carry out subsequent protein-ligand crystallography.
Leveraging its expertise in medicinal chemistry with its fragment optimisation technology,
Evotec is able to rapidly progress fragments identified into lead optimisation.
The NMR-based screening technology is complementary to other screening
technologies because its high sensitivity enables the identification of weakly binding
ligands, allows for site-selective screening and can thus help to accelerate lead
optimisation. The SAR-by-NMRTM technique locates distinctly different yet proximal sites
to which fragment molecules bind on a protein’s surface such that the two fragments can
be linked together in the proper orientation to provide potent molecules that do not exist
in corporate libraries and cannot be found using conventional methods.
“We are delighted to have acquired these high-quality assets today. This NMR screening
capability further enhances our leading expertise in fragment-based drug discovery and
thereby increase our competitive advantage in this important area of research“,
commented Dr Mario Polywka, Chief Operating Officer of Evotec. “Fragment-based
approaches have become increasingly important in modern drug discovery as they give
access to novel chemical matter around targets previously intractable to traditional
discovery approaches.”
“We see this development as an exciting opportunity to bring our successful NMR
screening group into the environment needed for its future substantial growth. It will also
allow us to focus our efforts into the advancement of our antibiotic pipeline, which has
two novel candidates ready to enter clinical development” explains Dr. Harald
Labischinski, CEO of Combinature Biopharm AG and CSO of their holding
company, Merlion Pharmaceuticals Pte. Ltd.
Evotec’s Centres of innovation
Evotec’s Innovation Centres are scientific centres focussed on bringing innovation to the
pharmaceutical industry. They are centred around core technologies that have been
shown to increase the efficiency of the drug discovery and development process. In
addition to utilising core expertise from within Evotec they access leading edge science
through external Scientific Advisory Boards.
In addition to FBDD Evotec is establishing Centre’s of Innovation in other core areas that
it feels will bring significant innovation to the drug discovery process.
About Evotec AG
Evotec is a leader in the discovery and development of novel small molecule drugs. Both through
its own discovery programmes and through research collaborations, the Company is generating
the highest quality research results to its partners in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology
industries.
In proprietary projects, Evotec specialises in finding new treatments for diseases of the Central
Nervous System. Evotec has three programmes in clinical development: EVT 201, a partial
positive allosteric modulator (pPAM) of the GABAA receptor complex for the treatment of
insomnia, EVT 101, a subtype selective NMDA receptor antagonist for the treatment of
Alzheimer’s disease and/or pain, and EVT 302, a MAO-B inhibitor in development for smoking
cessation.
In research collaborations, Evotec has established itself as the partner of choice for
pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies worldwide. The Company provides innovative and
often integrated solutions from drug target to clinic through an unmatched range of capabilities,
including early stage assay development and screening through to medicinal chemistry and drug
manufacturing. www.evotec.com About MerLion Pharmaceuticals Pte Ltd
MerLion Pharmaceuticals is a privately held international drug discovery and development
company headquartered in Singapore.
MerLion has a balanced portfolio of assets that includes several clinical stage antibiotic
candidates, a unique patent position in the area of bacterial virulence, innovative screening
approaches and access to the proprietary discovery technologies of its many risk-share partners.
The company’s current collaboration partners include Abbott Laboratories, Arpida SA, Astellas
Pharma Inc., Boehringer Ingelheim, Cancer Research Technologies Ltd., Dow AgroSciences,
Merck Banyu, Merck & Co, Novartis Institute for Tropical Diseases, Pfizer Inc., Sankyo Co Ltd.
and Schering-Plough Research Institute. |
