Evotec, Ono Extend Research Pact

Evotec AG has extended its research collaboration with Ono Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. and initiated a new discovery alliance. Evotec will provide drug discovery activities, including high throughput screening, medicinal chemistry and in vitro pharmacology to discover small molecular weight compounds against an ion channel target selected by Ono. Ono will use Evotec’s ion channel drug discovery platform and expertise and in return, Evotec will receive research funding and milestone payments.

The two companies have been collaborating on novel inhibitors for a protease target since March 2008. Within this collaboration Evotec provides protein crystallography, medicinal chemistry, biology and ADMET services to Ono with the goal of advancing a compound to clinical development.

“Since we have a high regard for Evotec’s wide range of drug discovery technologies, and the existing collaboration with Evotec targeting a protease has progressed as planned, we are now pleased to enter into a new drug discovery agreement on an ion channel with Evotec utilizing their proprietary drug discovery platform. We anticipate the collaboration will result in identifying a novel drug candidate with a high potential,” said Kazuhito Kawabata, Ph.D., managing director, Research Headquarters at Ono.

Dr. Mario Polywka, chief operating officer of Evotec, commented, “We are delighted to be expanding our collaboration and initiating a new discovery collaboration with Ono, a partner with whom we enjoy a close relationship. This expansion clearly demonstrates the value we bring to our alliance partners in the area of drug discovery. We look forward to continuing working closely with our colleagues at Ono.”