Evotec reaches milestone under drug discovery collaboration with Novartis

The financial details have been kept confidential.

Evotec chief operating officer Dr Mario Polywka said, "We are pleased to have received a milestone from the collaboration with Novartis that started in 2008. This is further recognition of our track record in advancing compounds towards the clinic with our collaborators."

According to the agreement, Evotec is responsible for advancing the program up to pre-clinical development while Novartis will be responsible for all clinical development activities, manufacturing and commercialization of the compounds.

Novartis has made an upfront payment and research funding to Evotec, which is entitled to receive pre-clinical and clinical milestone payments that could exceed $28m besides royalties on sales of any marketed products resulting from the collaboration.