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Evotec SE — Environmental & Social Information 2012
Jan 17, 2012
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Environmental & Social Information
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Corporate | 17 January 2012 07:28
Evotec and Harvard University Expand Strategic Alliance into Kidney Disease
Evotec AG / Key word(s): Alliance
17.01.2012 / 07:28
Hamburg, Germany - 17 January 2012: Evotec AG (TecDax: EVT) today
announced a second strategic alliance with Harvard University, this time
including Brigham and Women's Hospital aimed at discovering and developing
new biomarkers and treatments in the field of kidney disease. The first
successful collaboration 'CureBeta' was established in March 2011 to
develop new diabetes therapies targeting beta cell regeneration.
Now Harvard, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Evotec also bring together
extensive expertise and know-how in kidney biology, physiology and disease
along with a unique set of tools to identify, validate and develop
candidate targets and biomarkers. The alliance will pursue systematic and
unbiased approaches towards the identification of kidney disease relevant
mechanisms with particular interest in mechanisms with disease modifying
potential. This program 'CureNephron' is designed to deliver and exploit
novel therapeutic targets as well as biomarkers that allow more accurate
diagnosis, monitoring and treatment of chronic and acute kidney disease.
Advanced chronic kidney disease (CKD) and severe forms of acute kidney
injury have very limited treatment options and are associated with high
morbidity and mortality. Patients with end stage renal disease (ESRD)
suffer from complete loss of kidney function and have to be treated by
dialysis, a costly and burdensome procedure with limited efficacy and
generally poor prognosis. Novel therapeutic approaches are needed that have
the potential to protect and restore the function of key kidney cell types
aiming to slow and reverse disease progression for patients with
non-dialysis dependent CKD as well as patients with ESRD on dialysis.
'We are extremely proud to work with Dr. Andy McMahon and Dr. Ben
Humphreys, who are highly accomplished scientists and clinicians in this
exciting field. Together with Evotec scientists they will be part of a
uniquely cross functional team covering kidney biology, physiology, and
disease as well as leading drug discovery expertise. Our combined efforts
will lead to new insights into kidney disease biology and fuel a pipeline
of commercially exciting drug candidates in acute and chronic kidney
disease,' said Dr. Cord Dohrmann, CSO of Evotec.
Dr. Andy McMahon, Professor at Harvard University, said 'The primary
mechanisms leading and driving the development of kidney damage have not
been systematically explored. We aim to comprehensively screen for these
mechanisms looking at how individual kidney cell types respond to acute and
chronic insults during various stages of disease progression as well as
during the recovery process'.
Dr. Ben Humphreys, associate physician in the Renal Division, Brigham and
Women's Hospital and a professor at Harvard Medical School, added: 'As
chronic diseases such as diabetes continue to grow at alarming rates there
is an ever increasing need to develop new treatment options for diabetes
related co-morbidities which include end stage renal disease. In
collaboration with Evotec, we are enthusiastic about identifying and
exploring new mechanisms that have the potential to modify disease
progression and hopefully produce first-in-class therapeutics for the
treatment of kidney disease'.
'We're very pleased to expand our alliance which is testimony to a highly
productive working relationship with Evotec in diabetes', said Isaac T.
Kohlberg, Harvard's Chief Technology Development Officer and head of its
Office of Technology Development. 'This new collaboration involving
researchers from Harvard University and Brigham and Women's Hospital as
well as Evotec is a great example of joining forces across traditional
academic and industrial boundaries to more rapidly advance groundbreaking
science to the stage of translational medicine and ultimately patients.'
Further details and commercial terms of the cooperation are not disclosed.
Contact Evotec AG:
Dr Werner Lanthaler, Chief Executive Officer, Phone: +49.(0)40.56081-242,
[email protected]
End of Corporate News
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Language: English
Company: Evotec AG
Manfred Eigen Campus / Essener Bogen 7
22419 Hamburg
Germany
Phone: +49 (0)40 560 81-0
Fax: +49 (0)40 560 81-222
E-mail: [email protected]
Internet: www.evotec.com
ISIN: DE0005664809
WKN: 566480
Listed: Regulierter Markt in Frankfurt (Prime Standard);
Freiverkehr in Berlin, Düsseldorf, Hamburg, Hannover,
München, Stuttgart
End of News DGAP News-Service
152991 17.01.2012