Evotec OAI Signs Medicinal Chemistry Agreement with Axxima Pharmaceuticals

25-06-2003: Evotec OAI, a partner for integrated high-value-added drug discovery services to the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries, and Axxima Pharmaceuticals AG, a drug discovery and development company leading the field of pathogen-host signal transduction, today announced that they have entered into a medicinal chemistry agreement to design and synthesise small molecule lead structures for one of Axxima(TM)s leading kinase targets.

Under the terms of the drug discovery contract Evotec OAI will apply its integrated medicinal chemistry platform to optimise initial screening hits already identified by Axxima and rapidly progress them towards novel clinical candidates for clinical trials. Financial details of the collaboration were not disclosed.

"Signing this contract with Axxima is a further strong validation of the quality of our integrated medicinal chemistry offering," said Jörn Aldag, President and Chief Executive Officer of Evotec OAI. "We are delighted that Axxima chose us to support them in building strong intellectual property around one of their anti-infective targets."

"The chemistry expertise provided by Evotec OAI ideally complements our in-house medicinal chemistry programs," said Dr. Gerhard Müller, Chief Scientific Officer of Axxima. "The professionalism of their integrated medicinal chemistry platform qualifies Evotec OAI as an ideal long-term drug discovery partner to support us in progressing selected projects into promising clinical drug candidates."