Evotec AG And Ellersbrook Join Forces To Accelerate TargetNASH

HAMBURG, Germany--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Evotec AG (Frankfurt Stock Exchange: EVT, TecDAX, ISIN: DE0005664809) announced today that the investment company Ellersbrook GmbH & Co. KG, (“Ellersbrook”), Germany, will invest into Evotec’s internal TargetNASH programme. Ellersbrook is a life science focused investment firm owned by Dr Herbert Stadler, a renowned biotech entrepreneur.

“Evotec is the gold standard in pre-clinical stage drug discovery and provides very exciting options for investments on a highly capital-efficient basis. I am looking forward to working with an impressive team of scientists in such an exciting field.”

This agreement marks a logical extension of Evotec’s EVT Innovate business segment which is based on proprietary drug discovery programmes in first-in-class approaches which are designed to form the basis of strategic Pharma partnerships or spin-out companies. Ellersbrook and Evotec jointly commit more than EUR 5 m in funding for an initial period of up to three years. In this joint investment, Evotec is contributing a well-defined Cure X/Target X programme (TargetNASH) and designs and executes the business plan in cooperation with Ellersbrook. The goal is to accelerate TargetNASH projects during an incubator period to tangible value points which will form the basis of either an independently financed spin-off company or a strategic Pharma partnership.

TargetNASH is a highly systematic approach to non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) identifying novel mechanisms and targets with the potential to lead to disease-modifying therapies. Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease is the most common chronic liver disease in the world affecting up to 30% of the adult population and represents the major cause for NASH. There is currently no approved pharmacological therapy on the market. TargetNASH pursues a portfolio of highly innovative targets with the goal to target different stages of the disease.

Dr Cord Dohrmann, Chief Scientific Officer of Evotec, commented: “We are proud to count one of Europe’s most successful biotech entrepreneurs as one of our partners. We are pursuing a new model where venture capital can invest into virtual biotech companies at a pre-seed stage. The model is probably the most capital-efficient way to progress early-stage projects to significant value inflection points with the flexibility to subsequently enter into strategic Pharma partnership or create independently financed spin-off companies.”

Dr Herbert Stadler, owner of Ellersbrook GmbH & Co. KG, added: “Evotec is the gold standard in pre-clinical stage drug discovery and provides very exciting options for investments on a highly capital-efficient basis. I am looking forward to working with an impressive team of scientists in such an exciting field.”

ABOUT EVOTEC AG

Evotec is a drug discovery alliance and development partnership company focused on rapidly progressing innovative product approaches with leading pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, academics, patient advocacy groups and venture capitalists. We operate worldwide providing the highest quality stand-alone and integrated drug discovery solutions, covering all activities from target-to-clinic to meet the industry’s need for innovation and efficiency in drug discovery (EVT Execute). The Company has established a unique position by assembling top-class scientific experts and integrating state-of-the-art technologies as well as substantial experience and expertise in key therapeutic areas including neuroscience, diabetes and complications of diabetes, pain and inflammation, oncology and infectious diseases. On this basis, Evotec has built a broad and deep pipeline of more than 70 partnered product opportunities at clinical, pre-clinical and discovery stages (EVT Innovate). Evotec has established multiple long-term discovery alliances with partners including Bayer, CHDI or UCB and development partnerships with e.g. Janssen Pharmaceuticals in the field of Alzheimer’s disease, with MedImmune and Sanofi in the field of diabetes, with Pfizer in the field of tissue fibrosis and with Second Genome in the field of inflammatory diseases. For additional information please go to www.evotec.com.

FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS - Information set forth in this press release contains forward-looking statements, which involve a number of risks and uncertainties. The forward-looking statements contained herein represent the judgement of Evotec as of the date of this press release. Such forward-looking statements are neither promises nor guarantees, but are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond our control, and which could cause actual results to differ materially from those contemplated in these forward-looking statements. We expressly disclaim any obligation or undertaking to release publicly any updates or revisions to any such statements to reflect any change in our expectations or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any such statement is based.