Evotec SE has progressed its strategic partnership with Bristol Myers Squibb, further bolstering the joint pipeline of advanced neuroscience programs, triggering a $25 million payment to further research efforts.
 
The companies entered a 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 to slow down or reverse disease progression.
 
The partnership has generated a promising pipeline of discovery to clinical-stage programs. The first program, 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 begin in 2024. In March 2023, the companies extended and expanded the partnership for an additional eight 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.”