Evotec SE announced that the Company has received a US$ 18 m grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (Seattle, WA, USA, “the foundation”) for the integrated discovery and development of a novel, first-in-class programme to accelerate progress in the area of women’s health and contraceptive technology, leveraging Evotec’s integrated R&D platform.
The project makes use of Evotec’s fully-integrated drug discovery and development platforms as well as therapeutic area expertise to take an idea from concept to nomination of a pre-clinical development candidate. To efficiently deliver safe and efficacious pre-clinical drug candidates, Evotec will use its extensive toolbox of computational tools, structural biology, therapeutic area knowledge, translational biology models, safety assessment and deep talent across the full R&D continuum.
Dr Craig Johnstone, Chief Operating Officer of Evotec, commented: “We are very excited to embark on the mission of delivering a first-in-class women’s health programme to the clinic and making it globally available. This new grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation allows us to leverage Evotec’s integrated platform for the discovery and development of novel, safe and efficacious drug candidates. We are grateful for the foundation’s trust in the capabilities of our integrated platform and look forward to delivering a novel option with the potential of changing the lives of many women to the better.”