Evotec Neurosciences GmbH (ENS), a subsidiary of Evotec OAI and Takeda Chemical Industries Ltd announced a four-year collaboration in the area of Alzheimer's disease (AD). The two companies aim to identify and validate novel targets relating to different aspects of the causes and progression of AD, with the goal of developing innovative small molecule therapeutics.

ENS will grant Takeda access to its proprietary database of Alzheimer's disease-related targets, and further validate selected target candidates for downstream drug discovery programs. Takeda will make payments to Evotec Neurosciences of up to EUR 20 million covering database access fees, research funding and milestone payments relating to the selection of targets for further drug discovery. Substantial milestones would also be payable on the successful clinical development of compounds acting on selected targets. Further financial details of the collaboration are not disclosed.

"We are delighted to start this extensive collaboration with Takeda, one of the world's leading pharmaceutical companies. It is a major validation of Evotec Neurosciences' innovative work to identify and validate drug targets to prevent or treat Alzheimer's disease. Alzheimer's affects millions of people in the developed world and is becoming an ever-increasing challenge as the population ages," said Dr. John Kemp, Chief Executive Officer of Evotec Neurosciences.

"The agreement signed with Takeda is an important validation of our strategy we adopted in 1999, when we decided to increasingly focus Evotec OAI on drug discovery and selectively invest in high-value indication-specific research programs together with leading academic institutions in order to cover a large part of the discovery value chain," said Joern Aldag, President and Chief Executive Officer of Evotec OAI.