Evotec Achieves Milestone In Collaboration With Ono

Evotec has received a milestone payment from Ono Pharmaceutical (Ono) from its research collaboration aimed at identifying inhibitors for a protease target. The milestone is received for the progression of the medicinal chemistry collaboration into lead optimisation.

Mario Polywka, chief operating officer of Evotec, said: “We are delighted to have achieved this important milestone with Ono and once again to demonstrate the value that we bring to our partnership with them. The success of this project is a testament to the strong partnership between our two companies and we look forward to continuing working closely with our colleagues at Ono both on this programme as it progresses to the clinic as quickly as possible and also on our recently initiated collaboration on a second target as proactively as possible.”

Kazuhito Kawabata, managing director, head of research headquarters and director of Minase Research Institute at Ono, said: “We have a high regard for Evotec’s drug discovery expertise and the capabilities and technologies used in progressing this collaboration. The achievement of this milestone further validates our strategy to work with the best collaborators in the industry. We look forward to reaching additional milestones together as our programmes progress.”

Evotec and Ono are also collaborating on a second target, an ion channel, for which Ono will access Evotec’s ion channel drug discovery platform and expertise. For this second programme Evotec will receive further research funding and milestone payments.