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Evotec and Boehringer Ingelheim Achieve Second Milestone in Joint Discovery Collaboration


WEBWIRE

10 March 2006, Hamburg, Germany | Oxford, UK - Evotec AG (Frankfurt Stock Exchange: EVT, TecDAX 30) today announced that the second milestone in its research collaboration with Boehringer Ingelheim has been successfully achieved. Under the terms of the drug discovery contract, Evotec will receive a milestone payment from Boehringer Ingelheim which was granted for the identification of a number of lead series for a priority receptor target. This is the second time within eighteen months that a target moves into lead optimisation and this also follows the expansion of the collaboration announced in January.

Further projects within the multi-target collaboration are progressing on schedule and are on track to achieve additional project milestones for which Evotec is entitled to additional payments from Boehringer Ingelheim. In addition, the contract provides substantial long-term upside through potential payments for successful milestone achievements during clinical development and royalties when new drugs reach the market. Further financial details of the payment were not disclosed.

Dr Mark Ashton, Executive Vice President, Business Development, Services at Evotec, commented: “Cooperating with prestigious pharmaceutical companies such as Boehringer Ingelheim is central to Evotec’s success. We are extremely proud that we have achieved our second milestone with Boehringer and that we have been able to rapidly advance hit compounds, discovered from screening this target at Evotec, to qualified lead series. This is an excellent validation of our research contribution and is even more pleasing as it comes right at the time that we have significantly extended and expanded our partnership. Our relationship with Boehringer is extremely important to us and we are committed to supporting them in advancing multiple biological targets through to clinical development.”

Professor Mikael Dolsten, Head of Corporate Division Pharma Research/Discovery, Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH, said: “We are very pleased with the rapid progress achieved in the collaboration. The basis for this second milestone achievement was both the strong interdisciplinary project work as well as the good team spirit between the Boehringer Ingelheim and Evotec scientists. We are looking forward to further progress with the two advanced projects and to further exciting research activities.“

About Evotec AG
Evotec is a leader in the discovery and development of novel small molecule drugs. Both through its own discovery programmes and through contract research partnerships, the Company is providing highest quality research results to its partners in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries.
In proprietary projects, Evotec specialises in finding new treatments for diseases of the central nervous system (CNS). Evotec has three Phase I clinical programmes: EVT 201, a GABAA modulator for the treatment of insomnia, EVT 101, a subtype selective NMDA receptor antagonist for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease and EVT 301, a selective and reversible inhibitor of MAO-B for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease.
In contract research, Evotec has established itself as the partner of choice for pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies worldwide. The Company provides innovative and often integrated solutions from drug target to clinic through an unmatched range of capabilities, including early stage assay development and screening through to medicinal chemistry and drug manufacturing.
In 2005, based on preliminary numbers Evotec has generated sales of EUR 79 million with 600 people located in Hamburg, Germany and near Oxford and in Glasgow, UK.
www.evotec.com

About Boehringer Ingelheim
The Boehringer Ingelheim group is one of the world’s 20 leading pharmaceutical companies. Headquartered in Ingelheim, Germany, it operates globally with 144 affiliates in 45 countries and nearly 36,000 employees. Since it was founded in 1885, the family-owned company has been committed to researching, developing, manufacturing and marketing novel products of high therapeutic value for human and veterinary medicine.
In 2004, Boehringer Ingelheim posted net sales of 8.2 billion euro while spending nearly one fifth of net sales in its largest business segment Prescription Medicines on research and development.
For more information please visit www.boehringer-ingelheim.com



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