Research & Development

Evotec has announced that it has reached important scientific progress within the neuroscience collaboration with Bristol Myers Squibb, initiating a research payment of $20m to Evotec.

This partnership began in December 2016 to ‘identify disease-modifying treatments for a broad range of neurodegenerative diseases’, according to the press release. Most currently approved drugs offer short-term management of symptoms, leaving a significant unmet need for therapies to slow or prevent disease progression.

EVT8683 was the first programme from this collaboration to be in-licensed by Bristol Myers Squibb in September 2021 as BMS-986419. The compound has already had a successful phase 1 study, with a phase 2 study scheduled to begin in 2024. 

Dr Cord Dohrmann, chief scientific officer of Evotec, commented: “We are excited to further expand our pipeline with another high-potential programme progressing into late preclinical development, demonstrating the exceptional productivity of our neuroscience partnership with Bristol Myers Squibb and our shared commitment to innovation and patient care. Together with Bristol Myers Squibb we have been able to advance a growing portfolio of programmes to critical inflection points, bringing us closer to our joint goal of delivering new therapeutic options for patients suffering from devastating neurological disorders.” 

It was announced in March 2023 that the two companies had expanded their partnership to last for another eight years.