Hamburg, Germany, Vienna, Austria - 15 November 2012: Evotec AG (Frankfurt Stock Exchange: EVT, TecDAX) and Haplogen GmbH have signed a collaboration agreement to discover and develop small molecules against viral infectious diseases.
Under the agreement, Haplogen and Evotec will co-develop drugs against a human protein that is essential for pathogenic viruses to infect their host cell. This protein was discovered by Haplogen's powerful proprietary technology to identify host factors for infectious human pathogens. Evotec will further develop Haplogen's lead compounds and apply its drug discovery platform to find additional small molecule inhibitors.
'This partnership will ensure that our therapeutic program advances with increasing pace to discover molecules for clinical testing in those patients that are at high risk of virus infections', says Georg Casari, CEO of Haplogen. 'We are excited that Evotec shares our vision and has joined forces on this first-in-class drug target.'
Mario Polywka, Chief Operating Officer of Evotec, explains: 'Part of Evotec's strategy is to pursue innovative, early stage projects and develop them to a partnering position before the clinic. We are delighted to partner with Haplogen to optimize their protein inhibitors. Haplogen's powerful target discovery technology is an excellent complement to Evotec's small molecule discovery and development capabilities. We hope that this is the start of a long-term relationship.'
Terms of the partnership were not disclosed.