Grant
Evotec has been granted up to €2.5 million in research funds from the German funding body BMBF as part of the Neu2 consortium, which is working on the neurodegenerative diseases target Serine Racemase.
Evotec will use its drug discovery platform, compound library and proprietary fragment-based drug discovery platform, in the discovery of leads.
The Neu2 consortium, which includes Evotec, MerckSerono, the European ScreeningPort GmbH, Bionamics GmbH, and the University Medical Centre at Hamburg-Eppendorf, amongst others, won the funding in the national BioPharma competition run by BMBF.
The programme was established to bridge the funding gap between lead compounds discovered in academic labs and the further investment that is needed to get compounds to the point at which pharmaceutical companies are interested in picking them up for onward development.
The Neu2 consortium, within which Evotec plays an important role, is focusing on developing treatments for Multiple Sclerosis and other neurodegenerative diseases.
Klaus Maleck, Chief Financial Officer of Evotec, said, “Evotec is pleased to work on identifying new drugs against neurodegenerative diseases within this consortium.
“At the same time, this grant represents a valuable alternative to financing our research without jeopardizing our patent position. The work has the potential to make major improvements to the quality of life of patients and could have considerable, non-dilutive impact on our investment case.”
BMBF does not support single projects in BioPharma, but consortia that can cover the complete discovery and development process, from molecule to product. The Neu2 consortium is one of the three winners of the competition.
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