Evotec SE has entered into a five-year partnership with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to discover new treatment regimens that better address tuberculosis (TB), a severe global health threat and one of the leading causes of death due to infectious diseases worldwide.

Evotec will receive a grant of approximately $23.8 million for a five-year period to generate standardized, high-quality preclinical data to support novel regimen selection and development.
 
The current standard treatment regimen for TB consists of a minimum of 6 months of treatment with four drugs administered under direct observation, but treatment is much longer when TB is drug resistant. The new regimen should be safer, shorter in duration and more efficacious than the current standard of care. 
 
Dr. Werner Lanthaler, chief executive officer of Evotec, said, “We are honoured to join with The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to fight tuberculosis, one of the world’s most deadly infectious diseases. With our contributions of industrialised, high quality infrastructure and innovative methodology, we are confident that this combined international effort is the best possible starting point to bring huge benefits to the large number of patients who suffer from TB around the globe.”