• 30 Sep 2024
• Admin
• News Article

Evotec Enters Technology Development Partnership with Novo Nordisk in Cell Therapy

Overview

Evotec SE, a life science company, has entered a technology development partnership with Novo Nordisk in cell therapy.

Strength of Both Companies

• Both Evotec and Novo Nordisk have significant expertise and a strategic focus to support stem cell-based therapies. 
• In order to provide next-generation off-the-shelf cell therapy products for clinical development and possible commercialisation thereafter, the companies will collaborate on development of advanced technologies in support thereof.

Under the Agreement

• Under the collaboration agreement, Novo Nordisk will provide funding for technology development activities at Evotec’s R&D site in Göttingen, Germany and at Evotec’s certified cell therapy manufacturing facility in Modena, Italy. 
• Novo Nordisk has an option to obtain exclusive rights to utilise the results of the collaboration for a pre-defined therapeutic area. 
• Evotec receives R&D funding, an undisclosed upfront and possible milestone and royalty payments.

Words from the CEO: Evotec

• Dr Cord Dohrmann, chief scientific officer of Evotec, said: “Cell therapies have already proven to be highly effective and have the potential to become functional cures in many disease areas. Stem cell-based cell therapy is a promising approach to modulate and scale cell therapies to ultimately provide tailor-made, off-the-shelf cell therapies at reasonable costs.” 
• “Together with Novo Nordisk, we are confident to be able to generate novel and robust technologies that will help deliver on the promise of stem cell-based therapies.”

Statement from the Novo Nordisk

Dr Joachim Fruebis, corporate vice president, cell therapy R&D, at Novo Nordisk, added: “We are excited to join forces with Evotec on our cell therapy initiatives. We hope that this collaboration will enable us to bring cutting-edge, stem cell-based therapies to patients more efficiently. By integrating our strengths, we are setting the stage for significant breakthroughs to more efficiently advance our cell therapies. This partnership holds great promise, and I am confident it will lead to significant advancements in realising our full potential.”

About Cell Therapies

• Cell therapy, one of the most promising regenerative medicine approaches, replaces a patient’s missing or broken cells with functioning cells from a range of different sources, either from a donor, from the patient’s own material, or from stem cells. 
• Stem cell research has opened up an almost unlimited source of consistent-quality material for such cell therapies. 
• At the same time, differentiating cell therapies from a single validated source circumvents critical risks of contamination associated with administering both donor and patient cell material.

Building on Evotec’s industrialised induced pluripotent stem cell (“iPSC”) platform, Evotec has built up a proprietary cell therapy with broad and deep capacity and capabilities. Evotec’s initiatives include proprietary and partnered cell types currently in pre-clinical development for a broad range of indications including diabetes, oncology, cardiology, and ophthalmology.

About the Company: Evotec

• Evotec is a life science company with a unique business model that delivers on its mission to discover and develop highly effective therapeutics and make them available to the patients. 
• The company’s multimodality platform comprises a unique combination of innovative technologies, data and science for the discovery, development, and production of first-in-class and best-in-class pharmaceutical products.