Evotec, BMS Enter License Agreement Under Neuroscience Alliance

Evotec SE reported that Bristol Myers Squibb has exercised its option to enter an exclusive global license agreement covering selected late-stage discovery programs that were developed and progressed within the collaboration.

Evotec and BMS originally entered their neurodegeneration partnership in 2016. The initial partnership proved highly productive in generating a promising pipeline of discovery to clinical-stage programs. As such, the companies have extended and expanded the partnership for an additional eight years to further broaden and deepen the strategic alliance.

Under the license agreement, BMS has selected an undisclosed number of programs that were developed and progressed using Evotec’s precision medicine platforms for further development. Evotec receives a $40 million payment and is eligible to earn performance milestones, as well as royalties on product sales.

The partnership leverages several of Evotec’s modality-agnostic precision medicine platforms and has successfully generated a pipeline of discovery and preclinical-stage programs. A first program, BMS-986419 or EVT8683, targeting eIF2b, was in-licensed by BMS in September 2021, following the successful filing of an IND application with the FDA, and has proceeded into Phase I development.

Cord Dohrmann, chief scientific officer of Evotec, said, “This license agreement will further bolster our joint pipeline of programmes targeting several neurodegenerative conditions. We are confident that the strong collaboration of the experienced teams at Evotec and Bristol Myers Squibb will make novel innovative treatment options available to patients living with a broad range of neurodegenerative conditions.”