Evotec gets milestone in neuroscience collab with BMS

Shares of Germany drug discovery company Evotec (FSE: EVT) were up 2.2% at 9.06 euros as it announced it has reached important scientific progress within its neuroscience collaboration with Bristol Myers Squibb (NYSE: BMY) triggering a research payment of $20 million to Evotec.

Evotec noted that a target-based program progresses into late pre-clinical development, further contributing to the fast-growing and promising pipeline of discovery to clinical-stage programs in neurodegeneration that the partnership has generated.

The companies first entered their strategic neuroscience collaboration in December 2016 to identify disease-modifying treatments for a broad range of neurodegenerative diseases. Currently approved drugs mainly offer short-term management of the patients’ symptoms and there is a significant unmet medical need for therapeutic modalities that slow down or prevent disease progression.