Evotec Enhances its Fragment-Based Drug Discovery Business by the Addition of NMR Screening Assets from Combinature
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HAMBURG, Germany and OXFORD, England, June 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-NMR(TM) intellectual property, licensed from Abbott. Through the addition of these assets, Evotec is able to integrate NMR-based screening technologies together with the SAR-by-NMR(TM) 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 from any of the independent fragment-based drug discovery companies.
Evotec's Innovation Centre for Fragment-Based Drug Discovery (FBDD)
Evotec has established a unique and powerful platform for Fragment-Based Drug Discovery. Its EVOlution(TM) 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-NMR(TM) 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.
Source: Evotec AG
Contact: Evotec AG, Anne Hennecke,+49-(0)40-56081-286, anne.hennecke@evotec.com;
MerLion Pharmaceuticals Pte Ltd, Chris Molloy, Chief Operating Officer, +65-6829-5606, enquiry@merlionpharma.com
