Sanofi agrees to license infectious disease assets to Evotec

Germany-based Evotec will also get licenses of a majority of infectious disease research portfolio and initiatives of Sanofi as per the terms of the transaction agreement.

Sanofi has agreed to pay and upfront amount of €60m to Evotec apart from committing to an additional, significant long-term funding to help in advancing the anti-infectives portfolio.

The French firm will keep with it certain option rights on the development, manufacturing and commercialization of the resulting anti-infective products from the licensed assets.

As part of the deal, Evotec will add and integrate 100 Sanofi employees into its global drug discovery and development operations.

Evotec CEO Werner Lanthaler said: “With the signing of this transaction, Evotec will have created the highest qualified translational footprint in infectious disease research globally with approx. 180 scientists. We warmly welcome the Sanofi employees to Evotec and look forward to working with them on this very important mission.

“Together we are well-positioned to become the global drug discovery and development partner of choice in this important therapeutic category.”

IIn early March, both the companies started exclusive negotiations on infectious disease research collaboration.

As per the terms, Evotec will take up the responsibility of speeding up the infectious disease research pipeline development and also for launching new open innovation R&D initiatives in anti-infectives.

The German firm is expected to form open collaborations with other pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, foundations, academia and government agencies. This is expected to further speed up research in infectious diseases.

Initial focus areas of the research will be on antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and superbug infections, malaria, tuberculosis in addition to creation of antiviral therapies with new mechanisms of action.

Image: Sanofi headquarters in Paris, France. Photo: courtesy of Sanofi.