Evotec Achieves €2M Milestone under Partnership with Boehringer Ingelheim

Company advanced first jointly developed candidate into the clinic for neuropathic pain.

Evotec is to receive €2 million, or roughly $2.46 million, from Boehringer Ingelheim with the advancement of a compound into Phase I trials. The candidate, which was discovered and optimized within the firms’ alliance, is being developed as a treatment for neuropathic pain.

In 2004, Evotec entered into a three-year collaboration with Boehringer Ingelheim focused on GPCRs. The term of the deal as well as the scope has subsequently been expanded twice such that it now covers other targets including ion channels and enzymes and spans indications like CNS, inflammatory, cardiometabolic, and respiratory diseases. The latest amendment to the agreement came in 2009 and extends the companies’ partnership until 2013.

Under the terms of the agreement, Evotec and Boehringer Ingelheim are jointly identifying and developing preclinical candidates. Boehringer Ingelheim has full ownership and global responsibility for clinical development, manufacturing, and commercialization. In return Evotec receives ongoing research fees and preclinical milestones. Evotec has earned eight milestone payments thus far, totaling over €8.5 million, or approximately $10.44 million.

The companies have a separate agreement to jointly advance novel targets as potential points of intervention in the treatment of Alzheimer disease. Evotec along with the Research Institute of Molecular Pathology in Vienna is using its disease models to identify novel AD targets.

Based on these models, Boehringer Ingelheim will select and further validate target candidates for its in-house drug discovery program. The deal includes an option for Evotec to support Boehringer Ingelheim in the target-validation process. If BI exercises this option, Evotec is eligible to milestone payments of up to €20 million, or about $24.56 million, plus royalties.