Evotec, Debiopharm to research and develop new cancer treatments

Under the deal, Evotec will be responsible for discovery and pre-clinical development efforts, while Debiopharm will manage clinical development.

The deal will see Evotec receive R&D funding and high double-digit total payments triggered by clinical, regulatory and commercial milestones, plus royalties on sales of resulting commercial products.

The project is based on Evotec’s drug discovery efforts to investigate genetically altered targets whose ‘driver’ role in several cancer types has been validated and on the shared objective of discovering new therapeutic agents in a variety of cancers such as acute myeloid leukemia (AML), prostate cancer and glioblastoma.

Evotec chief scientific officer Cord Dohrmann said the deal combines the company’s discovery platform with Debiopharm’s ability to advance projects through clinical development in a highly efficient manner while sharing risks and rewards of its TargetX project.

"There is compelling science around the target and we are confident that we will be able to position highly competitive compounds in this field that hold great potential for difficult to treat cancers," Dohrmann said.

Debiopharm International chief scientific officer Andrés McAllister said, "This is a fine example of how drug discovery and development will be in the future: a mixture of complementarities looking to bring to a defined population of patients a drug that will change the outcome of disease."

Image: Evotec and Debiopharm will develop new treatment for several forms of solid tumors and leukemias. Photo: courtesy of dream designs/ freedigitalphotos.net