Evotec AG said CHDI Foundation, Inc., a not-for-profit organization pursuing a biotech approach to finding therapies for Huntington Disease (HD), has extended its collaboration with Evotec to the end of 2010 to help them advance their Huntington's disease drug discovery programmes. This contract extension is worth up to US $ 37 million in research payments for Evotec.

The collaboration covers Evotec's entire drug discovery offering, including its expertise in medicinal chemistry, biology and compound sourcing. Specifically, this includes biochemical and cellular assay development and high content screening on interesting cell lines with the aim of identifying novel starting points for medicinal chemistry programs. In addition, Evotec supplies key support in the area of medicinal chemistry and supporting biology optimisation on multiple biological targets that are of high importance for the treatment of HD. Using skills in computational chemistry, structural biology and protein crystallography, Evotec characterizes active compounds further and optimises their potency and selectivity to generate lead molecules for subsequent progression into clinical trials.

Evotec and CHDI have worked together since March 2006. During this time, the collaborative relationship has grown significantly. In addition to the contract extension announced today, the companies also have an agreement whereby Evotec provides ultra-high-throughput screening (uHTS) support.

"This is an important collaboration for CHDI. As collaborative enablers, CHDI depends on a network of academic and industrial partners to conduct its research efforts. Based on 18 months of working together successfully with Evotec, we have decided to extend the term of our agreement. We remain impressed by Evotec's breadth of drug discovery expertise coupled with their knowledge of CNS diseases that ideally complement our efforts in the search for novel treatments that may slow or prevent Huntington's disease," commented Dr Robert Pacifici, chief scientific adviser, CHDI.

"We are extremely proud that CHDI, an organization dedicated solely to Huntington's disease research, has chosen us as their partner in one of the largest collaborations a not-for-profit organization has signed with a biotechnology company," said Dr Mark Ashton, executive vice president Business Development Services, Evotec. "This collaboration is an excellent example for how our integrated drug discovery and CNS expertise adds value to companies with no or little internal discovery infrastructure. Working together, Evotec and CHDI have the tools in place to rapidly discover novel drugs against Huntington's disease targets."