Arix Bioscience plc, a global healthcare and life science company supporting medical innovation, announced the formation of the LAB591, an academic "BRIDGE" collaboration with the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and Evotec AG.
LAB591 aims to accelerate research discoveries at Fred Hutch and leverage these discoveries to form new companies focused on cancer and infectious disease drug development. Arix, Evotec and Fred Hutch plan to jointly select promising LAB591 research projects from the Fred Hutch labs. After developing a research validation plan, Evotec will conduct research in collaboration with the Fred Hutch faculty which will be seed funded by Arix. Once completed, and subject to the results, Arix and Evotec have a pre-agreed option to form a new company, in which both parties will have an equity interest.
Jonathan Peacock, chairman of Arix Bioscience, said: "We are excited to be combining forces with one of the world's premier cancer research centres and amplifying this with Evotec's drug discovery engine. This new strategic collaboration provides us with an excellent platform to identify new opportunities and build companies with validated, novel scientific approaches, focused on therapeutic breakthroughs for patients suffering from cancer and infectious diseases."
Dr Werner Lanthaler, chief executive officer of Evotec, remarked: "We are excited to work with Fred Hutch, a partner with top-class science and significant experience in cancer and infectious disease research, and together with Arix' extensive experience we aim to identify new opportunities and build companies to discover much needed cures. This BRIDGE demonstrates Evotec's strong and long-lasting commitment to collaboration and innovation and we are convinced that we are meeting the needs of universities and commercial partners and are filling a crucial gap with this model."
Hilary Hehman, Fred Hutch director of partnerships and alliances, added: "This partnership is an example of Fred Hutch's commitment to establishing high- impact strategic partnerships that accelerate the translation of Fred Hutch's scientific innovation into treatments that ultimately benefit patients. We believe this partnership will advance our mission to cure cancer, and we look forward to working closely with Evotec and Arix over the next five years."
The name of the BRIDGE "LAB591" is in honourable memory of the brother of Dr William Hutchinson who founded Fred Hutch. His brother, Fred Hutchinson, died of cancer at an early age in the midst of his professional baseball career. Fred was a major-league pitcher who threw 591 strikeouts during the course of his career and the partners chose "LAB591" as a tribute to his legacy.
Arix Bioscience plc is a global healthcare and life science company supporting medical innovation. Headquartered in London and with an office in New York,
Evotec is a drug discovery alliance and development partnership company focused on rapidly progressing innovative product approaches with leading pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, academics, patient advocacy groups and venture capitalists.
At Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, home to three Nobel laureates, interdisciplinary teams of world-renowned scientists seek new and innovative ways to prevent, diagnose and treat cancer, HIV/AIDS and other life-threatening diseases.