Evotec, Active Biotech announce collaboration to identify small molecule modulators of priority biological target

Evotec AG (Frankfurt:EVT) (TecDAX) today announced that it has entered into a collaboration with Active Biotech AB (Stockholm:ACTI) to identify small molecule modulators of a priority biological target, selected by Active Biotech, involved in immune disorders and cancer.

Evotec will use its expertise and technologies in assay development, high throughput screening (HTS) and surface plasmon resonance (SPR) screening for the identification and validation of novel hits. In order to maximise the probability of finding high quality medicinal chemistry starting points, Evotec will screen its Lead Discovery Library, a small molecule collection designed for diversity, novelty and quality.

Dorthe da Graça Thrige, Director of Development of Active Biotech, commented: "We have a high regard for Evotec's expertise and capabilities in assay development and compound screening. In addition, we are impressed with the excellent quality of Evotec's Lead Discovery Library, which we believe will enable us to generate high quality hits, ensuring a smooth transition to medicinal chemistry activities. Importantly, the hits identified in the HTS will complement the ongoing lead optimisation of compounds identified in-house."

Dr. Mark Ashton, Executive Vice President, Business Development of Evotec stated: "We are proud to have been selected by Active Biotech, a leading biotechnology company with advanced drug candidates in the area of immune modulation, to carry out hit identification activities on this important biological target. We look forward to supporting them in their quest to find novel treatments to address immune disorders and cancer."

Evotec has a unique assay development and screening platform built around proprietary and the latest commercial technologies providing a flexible and high quality approach to lead identification. Evotec has successfully developed assays and high throughput screens for all of the major target classes including GPCR's, kinases and other enzymes, ion channel and protein::protein interactions.

No financial details are disclosed.