Evotec SE announced progress within the Company’s strategic partnership with Bristol Myers Squibb, further bolstering the joint pipeline of advanced neuroscience programmes. Evotec receives a US$ 25 m payment to progress further research.

Evotec and Bristol Myers Squibb entered their strategic neuroscience collaboration in December 2016 to identify disease-modifying treatments for a broad range of neurodegenerative diseases where there remains a significant unmet medical need for therapies that slow down or reverse disease progression. 

The partnership has generated a promising pipeline of discovery to clinical-stage programmes. A first programme, EVT8683, was in-licensed by Bristol Myers Squibb in September 2021 as BMS-986419. Following a successful Phase I study Bristol Myers Squibb announced that a Phase II study for BMS-986419 is scheduled to commence in 2024. In March 2023, Bristol Myers Squibb and Evotec extended and expanded this partnership for an additional 8 years.

Dr Cord Dohrmann, Chief Scientific Officer of Evotec, commented: “As the first asset from our neuroscience partnership with Bristol Myers Squibb is moving towards a Phase II study, our partnership is still growing in the drug discovery phase as well. We are confident that our unique PanOmics-based and patient-derived cellular models supported drug discovery efforts will deliver new therapeutic options for patients affected by devastating neurological disorders.”