• KEY SCIENTIFIC ACHIEVEMENTS DRIVE THE EXPANSION OF THE PIPELINE OF MOLECULAR GLUE DEGRADERS
• PERFORMANCE-BASED AND PROGRAMME-BASED PAYMENTS OF IN TOTAL US$ 75 M TO EVOTEC

Hamburg, Germany, 16 March 2023:
Evotec SE (Frankfurt Stock Exchange: EVT, MDAX/TecDAX, ISIN: DE0005664809; NASDAQ: EVO) today announced progress within the Company’s strategic partnership with Bristol Myers Squibb relating to building a molecular glue-based pipeline. Performance-based and programme-based achievements trigger payments of in total US$ 75 m to Evotec.

Evotec and Bristol Myers Squibb entered their strategic protein degradation partnership in 2018 and expanded it in May of 2022, because of the highly productive initial collaboration generating a promising pipeline. Since the expansion, Evotec has significantly scaled up its activities to develop highly promising compounds from Bristol Myers Squibb’s industry-leading library of cereblon E3 ligase modulators (“CELMoDs™”). The partnership continues to deliver on its goal to build a leading pipeline of novel molecular glue degraders, targeting high-value targets in the field of oncology and beyond. 

Dr Cord Dohrmann, Chief Scientific Officer of Evotec, commented: “The recent extension and expansion of our partnership with BMS continues to deliver high value programs. Our Omics-based, highly systematic, and industrialised approach to identify very promising molecular glues continually exceeds all expectations and will translate into an extraordinary pipeline of first-in-class product opportunities.”

About molecular glue degraders 
Conventional small molecule therapeutics work via a drug-induced interference with a protein activity. This limitation to agonistic or antagonistic functions renders about 90% of proteins “undruggable”. Also, conventional small molecules only work while they are actively binding to the receptor, which typically requires a treatment regimen consisting of one or even several carefully dosed medications every day. 

Molecular glue degraders are compounds that induce interactions between an E3 ubiquitin ligase and a molecular target. The induced interaction results in ubiquitination and subsequent degradation of the recruited protein. Through this mechanism of action molecular glues are not restricted to the agonistic/antagonistic features of a protein, thus massively expanding the range of the druggable proteome. Also, the molecular glue itself is not degraded in the process and can trigger the degradation process several times over, thus leading to longer-lasting therapeutic effects. 

About Evotec’s strategic partnership with Bristol Myers Squibb in molecular glues
In 2018, Evotec entered a long-term strategic drug discovery and development partnership in the field of molecular glues with Celgene, now Bristol Myers Squibb. Bristol Myers Squibb is a leader in this field based on its unique library of cereblon E3 ligase modulators (CELMoDs™). The aim of this strategic alliance is to discover and develop a leading pipeline of molecular glue degraders for a range of therapeutic indications leveraging all of Evotec’s proprietary PanOmics and PanHunter platforms as well as A.I./M.L.-based drug discovery and development capabilities.

Evotec applies high-end proteomics and transcriptomics at industrial scale to profile and select promising drug candidates based on comprehensive cell biological profiles. Evotec’s leading PanOmics screening capabilities are delivering unmatched throughput. The selection of the most promising candidates for drug development is facilitated by Evotec’s PanOmics data analysis platform PanHunter, which was recently launched commercially as a software-as-a-service (“SAAS”) solution. PanHunter supports the integration and analysis of these data sets and thereby enables the selection of the most promising CELMoDs™ for further progression into lead optimisation. 

Evotec announced in May of 2022 that the Company has further extended and expanded its partnership with Bristol Myers Squibb for another 8 years as the initial collaboration proved to be highly productive in generating a promising pipeline of molecular glue degraders.

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS 

This announcement contains forward-looking statements concerning future events, including the proposed offering and listing of Evotec’s securities. Words such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “may,” “might,” “plan,” “potential,” “should,” “target,” “would” and variations of such words and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Such statements include comments regarding Evotec’s expectations for revenues, Group EBITDA and unpartnered R&D expenses. These forward-looking statements are based on the information available to, and the expectations and assumptions deemed reasonable by Evotec at the time these statements were made. No assurance can be given that such expectations will prove to have been correct. These statements involve known and unknown risks and are based upon a number of assumptions and estimates, which are inherently subject to significant uncertainties and contingencies, many of which are beyond the control of Evotec. Evotec expressly disclaims any obligations or undertaking to release publicly any updates or revisions to any forward-looking statements contained herein to reflect any change in Evotec’s expectations with respect thereto or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any statement is based.