Dive Brief:
- Evotec of Hamburg, Germany, announced a partnership with C4X Discovery Holdings of Manchester, UK, to develop drugs initially focused on cancer and autoimmune diseases.
- The agreement comes in the wake of a research collaboration between the two companies announced in January 2015.
- Evotec will use its assay and screening technology on certain C4XD programs. C4XD will supply funding that Evotec will use to partially fund operational costs and is eligible for development milestone payments. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Dive Insight:
The new agreement builds on what the companies say was successful research collaboration in January 2015. Under the arrangement, C4XD and Evotec work together to develop new small molecule drugs across a range of targets, therapeutic areas and stages of development, with the initial targeted towards the treatment of cancer and autoimmune diseases.
C4X Discovery Holdings is a company that specializes in drug discovery, while Evotec focuses on partnerships. With the deal, C4XD said it found a company to share development risk, in hopes of reducing near-term cost and increasing potential output. Under the agreement, CAXD, which retains all IP, will have a right to out-license successful projects to the pharma industry, or proceed itself to clinical trials, on a case-by-case basis.
"We have already identified the first three small molecule targets and the combination of our unique technologies and the infrastructure and expertise that Evotec has in place will enable us to accelerate the development of novel small molecule drug candidates," Clive Dix, CEO of C4XD said of the collaboration in a statement.
C4XD says it owns the largest chemistry operation in UK life-sciences sector, including large pharma, and counts among its clients most of the world’s top-20 pharmaceutical companies.
Dr. Mario Polywka, chief operating officer of Evotec, said that the collaboration "showcases our broad target class expertise." Evotec says it has long-term discovery alliances with partners including Bayer, CHDI, Sanofi, Genentech, Janssen Pharmaceuticals and UCB. It has major operating sites worldwide, including South San Francisco and Princeton.