Evotec and CHDI Foundation expand ongoing collaboration to fight Huntington's disease using Evotec's expanded capabilities and footprint

Hamburg, Germany - 02 September 2015: Evotec AG (Frankfurt Stock Exchange: EVT, TecDAX, ISIN: DE0005664809) today announced that CHDI Foundation, Inc. ("CHDI") has extended and expanded its collaboration with Evotec through to August 2018. Over this period CHDI will fund 55 full-time scientists at Evotec. The collaboration-which aims to find new treatments for Huntington's disease, an inherited neurodegenerative disorder-will take advantage of additional technologies, capabilities and capacities at Evotec's facilities in Toulouse, France, and Princeton, NJ, USA. 

The collaboration was initiated in 2006 and has grown considerably over this period to fully utilise Evotec's best-in-class integrated neuroscience platform. The extension of this collaboration is a further validation of Evotec's investment in new technologies and capabilities in support of driving innovative drug discovery collaborations. Evotec provides CHDI with a full range of research activities and expertise in the neuroscience area, including integrated biology and chemistry supported by compound and library management, target validation, stem cell research, high-content screening, computational chemistry, in vitro pharmacokinetics and protein production. 

Dr Mario Polywka, Chief Operating Officer of Evotec, commented: "We are delighted to continue our collaboration with CHDI and this extension clearly illustrates that CHDI values our commitment to expanding both our capabilities and capacity. We look forward to continuing working closely with our colleagues at CHDI to rapidly discover novel drugs against Huntington's disease targets." 

"Evotec represents one of our largest and longest standing relationships and continues to be an important strategic partner in our search for meaningful therapies for Huntington's disease families", added Dr Robert Pacifici, Chief Scientific Officer at CHDI. "Their integrated drug discovery capabilities are helping us discover novel targets and to advance drug candidates towards the clinic and we look forward to continuing to work with Evotec over the coming years." 

ABOUT HUNTINGTON'S DISEASE

Huntington's disease is a familial disease caused by a mutation in the huntingtin gene. Each child of a parent with the mutation in the huntingtin gene has a 50-50 chance of inheriting the mutation. As a result of carrying the mutation, an individual's brain cells fail and die leading to cognitive and physical impairments that, over the course of the disease, significantly impair the individual's quality of life and ultimately cause death. Symptoms of Huntington's disease, which generally develop in midlife and become progressively more debilitating as time passes, can also develop in infancy or old age. Once overt symptoms start, patients live for about 15 to 20 years. There is currently 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, Inc. is a privately-funded nonprofit biomedical research organization that is exclusively dedicated to rapidly discovering and developing therapies that slow the progression of Huntington's disease (HD). Our scientists work closely with a network of more than 600 researchers in academic and industrial laboratories around the world in the pursuit of these novel therapies, providing strategic scientific direction to ensure that our common goals remain in focus. This helps bridge the translational gap that often exists between academic and industrial research pursuits and that adds costly delays to therapy development. In its role as a collaborative enabler, CHDI seeks to bring the right partners together to identify and address critical scientific issues and move drug candidates to clinical evaluation as rapidly as possible. 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. More information about CHDI can be found at www.chdifoundation.org.

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.