Evotec and CHDI Foundation Extend Strategic Drug Discovery Collaboration in Huntington’s Disease
- Longstanding alliance between Evotec and CHDI to enable the development of therapeutics for Huntington’s disease
- One of Evotec’s largest strategic drug discovery alliances
HAMBURG, GERMANY / ACCESSWIRE / May 28, 2024 / Evotec SE (Frankfurt Stock Exchange: EVT, MDAX/TecDAX, ISIN: DE0005664809; NASDAQ: EVO) has announced the extension of its 20-year collaboration with CHDI Foundation, Inc. (“CHDI”). CHDI is a privately funded nonprofit biomedical research organisation exclusively dedicated to collaboratively developing therapeutics that will substantially improve the lives of those affected by Huntington’s disease. The collaboration will further our fundamental scientific understanding of the disease and thereby aid the development of new effective treatments.
The collaboration utilises Evotec’s integrated neuroscience platform and broad expertise in CNS drug discovery and development. It covers a wide range of biology and chemistry services supported by compound and library management, target validation, stem-cell research, high-content screening, computational chemistry, pharmacology, protein production, and biomarker discovery and validation across multiple sites. Initiated in 2006, the long-standing collaboration is one of the largest strategic drug discovery alliances within Evotec.
Dr Craig Johnstone, Chief Operating Officer of Evotec, commented: “We are delighted that CHDI recognises the value of our long and highly cooperative relationship. We are tremendously proud of our continued contribution to the fight against Huntington’s disease with our colleagues at CHDI, which underscores our unwavering joint commitment to finding new therapies for people affected by this devastating condition.”
Dr Robert Pacifici, Chief Scientific Officer at CHDI, added: “Over the past 20 years, our colleagues at Evotec have been critical to CHDI’s preclinical research programs and truly valued scientific allies in our mission to develop therapeutics for people with Huntington’s disease. We look forward to continuing our longstanding and productive research collaboration into the foreseeable future.”
About Huntington’s disease
Huntington’s disease is a familial disease caused by a mutation in the huntingtin gene. Each child of a parent carrying this mutation has a 50-50 chance of inheriting the condition. Due to the presence of the mutation, an individual´s brain cells undergo failure and subsequent death, resulting in cognitive and physical impairments. These challenges intensify over the course of the disease, significantly impairing the individual’s quality of life and ultimately leading to death. Symptoms of Huntington’s disease, which generally develop in midlife and become progressively more debilitating over time, can also emerge in infancy or old age. Once overt symptoms start, patients typically live for about 15 to 20 years. Currently, there is no way to delay the onset of symptoms or slow the progression of Huntington’s disease. It is estimated that the disorder affects about 30,000 people in the United States, and at least 150,000 others have a 50% risk of developing Huntington’s disease at some point.
About CHDI Foundation, Inc.
CHDI Foundation is a privately-funded, nonprofit biomedical research organization devoted to a single disease – Huntington’s disease. Our mission is to collaboratively develop therapeutics that will substantially improve the lives of those affected by Huntington’s disease. To achieve this CHDI manages a diverse portfolio of research projects through a novel virtual model that encourages scientific collaboration to more directly connect innovative research, drug discovery, and clinical development. This helps bridge the translational gap that often exists between academic and industrial research pursuits, and which adds costly delays to therapeutic development. Our activities extend from exploratory biology to the identification and validation of therapeutic targets, and from drug discovery and development to clinical studies and trials. To learn more, visit www.chdifoundation.org .
About Evotec SE
Evotec is a life science company with a unique business model that delivers on its mission to discover and develop highly effective therapeutics and make them available to the patients. The Company’s multimodality platform comprises a unique combination of innovative technologies, data and science for the discovery, development, and production of first-in-class and best-in-class pharmaceutical products. Evotec provides high value pipeline co-creating partnerships and solutions to all Top 20 Pharma and over 800 biotechnology companies, academic institutions, as well as other healthcare stakeholders. Evotec has strategic activities in a broad range of currently underserved therapeutic areas, including e.g. neurology, oncology, as well as metabolic and infectious diseases. Within these areas of expertise, Evotec aims to create the world-leading co-owned pipeline for innovative therapeutics and has to-date established a portfolio of more than 200 proprietary and co-owned R&D projects from early discovery to clinical development. Evotec operates globally with more than 5,000 highly qualified people. The Company’s 17 sites offer highly synergistic technologies and services and operate as complementary clusters of excellence. For additional information please go to www.evotec.com and follow us on X/Twitter @Evotec and LinkedIn .
Forward-looking-statements
This announcement contains forward-looking statements concerning future events, including the proposed offering and listing of Evotec’s securities. Words such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “may,” “might,” “plan,” “potential,” “should,” “target,” “would” and variations of such words and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Such statements include comments regarding Evotec’s expectations for revenues, Group EBITDA and unpartnered R&D expenses. These forward-looking statements are based on the information available to, and the expectations and assumptions deemed reasonable by Evotec at the time these statements were made. No assurance can be given that such expectations will prove to have been correct. These statements involve known and unknown risks and are based upon a number of assumptions and estimates, which are inherently subject to significant uncertainties and contingencies, many of which are beyond the control of Evotec. Evotec expressly disclaims any obligations or undertaking to release publicly any updates or revisions to any forward-looking statements contained herein to reflect any change in Evotec’s expectations with respect thereto or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any statement is based.
For further information, please contact:
Media
Gabriele Hansen
SVP Head of Global Corporate Communications
Gabriele.Hansen@evotec.com
Hinnerk Rohwedder
Director of Global Corporate Communications
Hinnerk.Rohwedder@evotec.com
Investor Relations
Volker Braun
EVP Head of Global Investor Relations & ESG
Volker.Braun@evotec.com
SOURCE: Evotec SE
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