Evotec pens research deal with Novo Nordisk

German biotech firm Evotec (EVT: Xetra) today announced a strategic alliance with Danish diabetes care giant Novo Nordisk (NOV: N) to discover and develop novel small molecule therapies to treat patients suffering from diabetes and obesity as well as co-morbidities such as non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), cardiovascular diseases, and diabetic kidney disease.

Evotec will apply its drug discovery platform, especially in ligand-based design, to seek to design novel, safe and efficacious products to address diabetes and associated morbidities. Once suitable pre-clinical candidates are selected, Novo Nordisk will use Evotec's INDiGO platform to move through pre-clinical studies to enter investigational new drug (IND) registration.

No financial details of the alliance were disclosed. However, the deal adds new projects to Evotec's portfolio of more than 60 R&D co-owned projects, and the news sent its shares 2.61% higher to 20.85 euros in early trading this morning.

"Novo Nordisk is one of the largest, most successful pharma companies in the world with a proven leadership position in diabetes and obesity. The integration of our industry-leading discovery and development platform with Novo Nordisk's deep disease expertise will create a powerful combination that we hope will create a difference for patients with diabetes or obesity. We very much look forward to working with such an innovative partner," commented Evotec’s chief operating officer Dr Mario Polywka.

"Evotec is a highly esteemed company in the field of small molecules and we are very excited about the collaboration. Novo Nordisk is confident that this will open up new possibilities in small molecule drug discovery and development targeting diabetes and obesity with the potential to make a difference for people living with these serious diseases," added Novo Nordisk’s Dr Marcus Schindler, senior vice president, global drug discovery.