Biotech Values

[DewDiligence]

EVTC, NVS Ink Drug-Discovery Collaboration

[Given the few disclosed details, there is not much to say about this collaboration other than the fact that it’s a small one by NVS’ standards. EVTC went public in 2007 by consummating a reverse merger with Renovis (#msg-22980262).]

http://biz.yahoo.com/pz/081203/155729.html

›Wednesday December 3, 2:55 am ET

HAMBURG, Germany, Dec. 3, 2008 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Evotec AG (Frankfurt:EVT.F) (NasdaqGM: EVTC ) today announced the start of a research collaboration with Novartis to identify and develop novel small molecule therapeutics. The collaboration will run for an initial period of three years.

Evotec will apply its powerful drug discovery platform in combination with its extensive disease biology expertise to advance a drug discovery program against a target nominated by Novartis through discovery into the clinic. Furthermore, the agreement may be expanded by the addition of a second program.

Under the terms of the agreement, Evotec will progress the programs up to preclinical development and Novartis will then have the responsibility for all clinical development activities, manufacture and commercialization of the compounds. In return for Evotec's contributions to the research program, Evotec is eligible for an upfront payment, research funding as well as preclinical and clinical milestone payments that could exceed $28 million. In addition, Novartis will pay royalties on sales of any marketed products resulting from the collaboration.

Jorn Aldag, President & Chief Executive Officer of Evotec, said: ``We are delighted that Novartis has chosen to collaborate with Evotec. Novartis' decision to work with us is further recognition of our track record in advancing compounds into the clinic. We are excited to be leveraging our drug discovery expertise with such a world class company.''

About Evotec AG

Evotec is a leader in the discovery and development of novel small molecule drugs. Both through its own discovery programs and through research collaborations, it is generating the highest quality research results to its partners in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. In proprietary projects, Evotec specializes in finding new treatments for diseases of the Central Nervous System. Evotec has four programs in clinical development: EVT 201, a partial positive allosteric modulator (pPAM) of the GABAA receptor complex for the treatment of insomnia, EVT 302, a MAO-B inhibitor in development for smoking cessation, EVT 101, a subtype selective NMDA receptor antagonist for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease and/or pain, and a P2X7 antagonist for the treatment of inflammatory diseases. In addition, Evotec has a number of proprietary projects in preclinical development as well as a worldwide license agreement with Pfizer to research, develop and commercialize small molecule vanilloid receptor (VR1) antagonists for the treatment of pain. For additional information please go to http://www.evotec.com‹