Evotec SE’s partner, Bayer AG, has decided to advance a further program from the endometriosis multi-target alliance into clinical Phase I development. Evotec will receive a €2 million milestone payment upon first dosing in the Phase I trial and may be eligible for further clinical and sales milestones as well as royalties based on future progress during clinical development and potential commercialization.

The companies entered into their endometriosis multi-target discovery alliance in October 2012 to discover three clinical candidates. So far, the alliance generated six preclinical candidates, of which a fourth has now progressed into Phase I. Bayer advanced the first program into a Phase II trial in refractory chronic cough in 2018. The Phase II study yielded positive results which met all of the targeted endpoints.

Dr. Werner Lanthaler, chief executive officer of Evotec, said, “We are very pleased that the excellent collaboration between Bayer and Evotec has now officially surpassed the ambitious initial target by delivering a fourth clinical drug candidate. The candidates we have identified and developed together are performing extremely well and hold great potential, most likely also beyond the initially surveyed indications.”