Evotec AG has signed an agreement with AstraZeneca in the field of kidney diseases. Initial focus of the alliance will be exploring compounds and targets with novel mechanisms that have disease-modifying potential for the treatment of chronic kidney disease.
Under the terms of this licence and collaboration agreement, AstraZeneca will receive access to a selected series of molecules identified in a screening effort, which is part of Evotec’s systematic kidney disease initiative. This particular programme has been designed to explore a key mechanism in the field of chronic kidney disease.
AstraZeneca will provide industrial scope and scale as well as pharmaceutical development expertise and marketing capabilities.
The agreement between Evotec and AstraZeneca triggers an undisclosed upfront payment as well as pre-clinical, clinical and regulatory milestones. Evotec is also eligible for additional milestone and royalty payments related to commercialisation. Evotec will receive research funding for work that will be conducted in collaboration with AstraZeneca. Specific financial details were not disclosed.
Dr Cord Dohrmann, Chief Scientific Officer of Evotec, commented:
“Exploring novel mechanisms and novel targets in the field of kidney disease is a logical next step for Evotec. We are very excited about AstraZeneca joining one of our programmes. AstraZeneca is a great partner sharing not only our vision but making valuable contributions beyond in an integrated discovery and development process.”
Dr Marcus Schindler, Head of Cardiovascular and Metabolic Diseases iMed, AstraZeneca, added: “Cardiovascular and metabolic diseases (CVMD) represents one of the three core areas for AstraZeneca. Within CVMD, we are committing significant efforts on research and development of potential new treatments for diabetic nephropathy, end-stage as well as chronic kidney disease. Our goal is to identify and develop effective therapies to halt or slow down the decline of renal function for patients suffering from kidney diseases. This new collaboration complements our research efforts in the renal disease space. Evotec has built a leading drug discovery platform in the field of kidney diseases and is well-positioned to work with us to generate highly innovative drug candidates so that we can accelerate the delivery of new medicines to patients.”
