ex scientia Limited - Partnership with Evotec AG

RNS Number : 4135W

Frontier IP Group plc

27 April 2016

 

RNS REACH

AIM: FIPP

27 April 2016

 

Frontier IP Group Plc

("Frontier IP" or the "Group")

ex scientia Limited - Partnership with Evotec AG

Frontier IP, which specialises in the commercialisation of intellectual property, is pleased to announce that its portfolio company ex scientia Limited ("ex scientia") and Evotec AG have entered into a partnership to discover bispecific small molecule immuno-oncology therapeutics.

The full text of this announcement is set out below.

Hamburg, Germany, Dundee, UK - 26 April 2016: Evotec AG (Frankfurt Stock Exchange: EVT, TecDAX, ISIN: DE0005664809) and ex scientia Ltd (Dundee, UK) today announced a collaboration with the objective to discover and develop first-in-class bispecific small molecule immuno-oncology therapies. Ex scientia will contribute its unique algorithmic design platform while Evotec, mainly through its Toulouse site, will be responsible for medicinal chemistry, in vitro and in vivo pharmacology as well as development capabilities and expertise.

Application of bispecific small molecules is an exciting strategy to significantly expand and enhance efficacy beyond conventional single target therapies. The initial focus will be cancer-related adenosine targets which are increasingly recognised to play important roles in immuno-oncology. Combining adenosine-based mechanisms with related targets holds great promise in boosting efficacy and addressing larger patient populations through a single small molecule drug.

Dr Cord Dohrmann, Chief Scientific Officer of Evotec, commented: "Polypharmacy is a widely used strategy to manage diseases more effectively. Ex scientia has built an outstanding platform to purposely design bispecific small molecules that can address multiple targets through a single molecule. Together we are well positioned to discover and develop a new generation of small molecule immuno-oncology therapies."

Commenting on the relationship, Andrew Hopkins, CEO, ex Scientia, said: "This is an ideal partnership to develop an innovative immuno-oncology portfolio where our focus is on delivering efficacious drug candidates to tackle the inherent challenges of the complex biology. Evotec have an excellent track record in project delivery and their proven track record in regarding efficiency gains in drug discovery chime with our own."

This is a co-owned, risk-shared-partnership, no further financial details were disclosed.

ENDS

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Notes to Editor:

About Frontier IP Group plc

www.frontierip.co.uk.

Frontier IP specialises in assisting institutions and companies in the commercialisation and exploitation of their intellectual property.  It establishes formal and informal relationships with sources of exploitable IP, principally universities.  Its core business is building and growing a portfolio of equity stakes in spin-out companies by taking an active involvement in the commercialisation and funding of these businesses.

About ex Scientia Limited

www.exscientia.co.uk

ex scientia is a privately owned company developing new medicines for a wide range of human diseases where improved efficacy is required. ex scientia is the first company to develop a systematic algorithmic discovery platform to automatically design molecules to complex target product profiles. ex scientia has successfully applied its algorithm-driven design principles to developed novel molecules with complex bispecifics, and phenotypic product profiles. Adopting this strategy increases the efficiency and effectiveness of drug discovery. As the industry pioneer of automated drug design, ex scientia aims to create exceptional value for its partners, by delivering effective treatments to the clinic.

 

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