SAN ANTONIO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Evestra, Inc., today announced the launch of its wholly-owned subsidiary, Evestra GmbH, giving Evestra unique access to scientific, financial and business resources throughout Europe. The company, focused on developing women’s health products targeting fertility control, gynecological disorders and oncology, was spun off earlier this year from the world-renowned San Antonio-based Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research (SFBR).
“With a presence in Berlin, Evestra is now well positioned to maximize its strengths on both sides of the Atlantic,” said Klaus Nickisch, Evestra’s Chief Scientific Officer and General Manager of Evestra GmbH. “Both cities and countries provide us with great advantages in scientific capabilities, proven biomedical business leadership and markets in female healthcare.” Dr. Nickisch as well as several of Evestra’s scientific advisors had several decades of experience in senior management with Schering AG, the Berlin-based major German pharmaceutical company, prior to its merger with Bayer.
Evestra (www.Evestra.com) was created from SFBR’s Organic Chemistry Department, which over the past three decades had earned an international reputation for expertise in discovery and synthesis of novel steroid compounds used in a wide range of female healthcare therapeutic interventions. P.N. Rao, who chaired the department and is now Evestra’s Senior Vice President of Research, is one of the world’s foremost experts in steroid chemistry and development of steroid-based therapeutics.
Evestra received all of the assets, personnel, and scientific know-how of the SFBR Organic Chemistry Department, together with start-up funding from SFBR, which currently is the majority shareholder of the company.
“Our presence in Europe is a key step forward in Evestra’s development,” said John Kerr, Chairman of the Board. “It demonstrates the continued momentum of this company, following on the spinoff from SFBR and our recent very successful private offering to investors. We expect to announce additional important milestones in the coming months.”
President and CEO Ze’ev Shaked announced in August that the new company had raised $4.35 million from private investors over a period of eight weeks. Those funds are accelerating the aggressive development of Evestra’s leading products, Shaked said.
Evestra is uniquely positioned to commercialize its pipeline of product candidates in fertility control, hormone replacement therapy and oncology, Shaked said.
