Evotec & Roche to Jointly Develop Biomarkers in Oncology
Evotec AG and Roche recently announced a collaboration in novel protein activity based biomarkers for Roche’s oncology drugs under development. Evotec AG will employ its PhosphoScout platform to discover protein-phosphorylation’s that predict favorable dosage and efficacy of targeted cancer drugs in patients. Roche will be responsible for conducting clinical trials as well as assessing the development of companion diagnostics for patient stratification.
“We are very pleased to collaborate with Evotec AG and benefit from the
PhosphoScout technology to identify appropriate pharmacodynamics and patient stratification biomarkers,” said Mike Burgess, Global Head of Oncology, Roche Pharma Research and Exploratory Development. “These biomarkers are core to the development of targeted therapeutics for cancer therapy.”
“Biomarker-based personalized healthcare has led to a paradigm shift in cancer therapy,” added Dr. Werner Lanthaler, Chief Executive Officer of Evotec AG. “We are proud to partner Evotec’s novel biomarker concept with Roche, the world-leading personalized healthcare company, and its Pharma Research and Development Organization.”
Under the initial 3-year term, Evotec and Roche will conduct multiple biomarker programs for therapeutic antibodies or small molecule inhibitors. Evotec will receive undisclosed up-front and success-based payments for each program.
Evotec’s PhosphoScout platform employs high-end mass spectrometry to identify and quantify thousands of cellular phosphorylation events on a global scale. Unlike immunoassays, PhosphoScout allows truly unbiased systems-wide profiling of signaling pathways. Monitoring changes in the cellular phosphoproteome in response to drug treatment not only supports mechanistic understanding of targeted drugs but also enables the discovery of predictive biomarkers.
Evotec is a drug discovery alliance and development partnership company focused on rapidly progressing innovative product approaches with leading pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. It operates worldwide providing the highest quality stand-alone and integrated drug discovery solutions, covering all activities from target-to-clinic. Evotec has long-term discovery alliances with partners, including Boehringer Ingelheim, CHDI, Genentech, Medimmune/Astra Zeneca, Novartis, and Ono Pharmaceutical. In addition, Evotec has existing development partnerships and product candidates both in clinical and preclinical development.
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