-First compound advanced into Preclinical Development -
Hamburg, Germany - Evotec AG (Frankfurt Stock Exchange: EVT; NASDAQ: EVTC) today announced that two further research milestones, leading to total payments to Evotec of EUR 6.0 million, have been successfully achieved in its drug discovery collaboration with Boehringer Ingelheim. One milestone was achieved for the start of lead optimization for a specific target. This means that for the third time within this collaboration a program has been advanced into lead optimization.
The second milestone was achieved in a separate program for the selection of a compound by Boehringer Ingelheim for preclinical development. Boehringer Ingelheim will assume responsibility for the preclinical development of the candidate compound identified and Evotec will be entitled to receive additional milestones plus royalties depending on the compound's progress through clinical development.
Dr John Kemp, Chief Research & Development Officer at Evotec, commented: "We are very proud of the success achieved in our collaboration with Boehringer Ingelheim during 2008. We have jointly progressed several projects and advanced the first compound into preclinical development. Further projects are progressing and we will continue to work closely with Boehringer Ingelheim to develop further preclinical development candidates within our collaborative projects."
In 2004, Evotec entered into a multi-year drug discovery collaboration to jointly identify and develop preclinical development candidates for the treatment of various diseases, including CNS related disorders. The agreement has been expanded and extended on two occasions since its initiation. Under the terms of the agreement, Boehringer Ingelheim has full ownership and global responsibility for clinical development, manufacturing and commercialization of the compounds identified. In return, Evotec receives ongoing research payments and preclinical milestones. The milestones announced today are the fourth and fifth milestones achieved in the multi-target collaboration. Additional milestones were achieved in June 2005, March 2006 and September 2008. Furthermore, the contract provides substantial long-term upside for Evotec through potential payments for successful milestone achievements during clinical development and royalties when new drugs reach the market.
Contact: Anne Hennecke, Senior Vice President, Investor Relations & Corporate Communications, Evotec AG, Phone: +49-40-56081-286, anne.hennecke@evotec.com
Forward-Looking Statements
Information set forth in this press release contains forward-looking statements, which involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Such forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements about our expectations and assumptions concerning regulatory, clinical and business strategies, the progress of our clinical development programs and timing of the results of our clinical trials, strategic collaborations and management's plans, objectives and strategies. These 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. In particular, the risks and uncertainties include, among other things: risks that product candidates may fail in the clinic or may not be successfully marketed or manufactured; risks relating to our ability to advance the development of product candidates currently in the pipeline or in clinical trials; our inability to further identify, develop and achieve commercial success for new products and technologies; competing products may be more successful; our inability to interest potential partners in our technologies and products; our inability to achieve commercial success for our products and technologies; our inability to protect our intellectual property and the cost of enforcing or defending our intellectual property rights; our failure to comply with regulations relating to our products and product candidates, including FDA requirements; the risk that the FDA may interpret the results of our studies differently than we have; the risk that clinical trials may not result in marketable products; the risk that we may be unable to successfully secure regulatory approval of and market our drug candidates; and risks of new, changing and competitive technologies and regulations in the U.S. and internationally.
The list of risks above is not exhaustive. Our Annual Report on Form 20-F, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, and other documents filed with, or furnished to the Securities and Exchange Commission, contain additional factors that could impact our businesses and financial performance. 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.