Evotec and Immuneering to collaborate on artificial intelligence ("AI") driven ligand identification for rare hereditary metabolic diseases

Evotec AG (Frankfurt Stock Exchange: EVT, MDAX/TecDAX, ISIN: DE0005664809) today announced that it has entered into a research collaboration with Immuneering Corporation (“Immuneering”), a worldwide leader in data-driven drug discovery, to discover novel small molecules for rare hereditary metabolic diseases.

The research collaboration brings together Evotec’s leading induced pluripotent stem cell (“iPSC”) platform and broad drug discovery capabilities with Immuneering’s unique Artificial Intelligence-driven drug discovery platform to accelerate ligand identification for novel targets. As part of the collaboration, Evotec will use Immuneering’s proprietary computational drug discovery platform Fluency to analyse public and proprietary data to advance identification of novel drug candidates that can ultimately lead to new medicines for rare hereditary metabolic diseases.

Dr Cord Dohrmann, Chief Scientific Officer of Evotec, said: “We are very excited to collaborate with Immuneering on its unique AI-driven approach to ligand identification. This is a significant opportunity to develop novel drugs targeting disorders of lysosomes that drive different clinical presentations in many rare genetic metabolic and neurodegenerative diseases with high unmet medical need. We look forward to exploring the powerful combination of these technologies and enhancing our drug discovery capabilities in our core areas of focus.”

Dr Greg Koytiger, SVP and Head of AI for Immuneering, said: “We are thrilled to combine Evotec’s industry-leading iPSC platform with our AI platform, Fluency, to rapidly identify and functionally profile novel small molecule drugs for rare hereditary metabolic diseases. This not only accelerates the drug discovery process, but opens up new targets that are understudied or difficult to drug. Evotec’s in-depth knowledge of targets of interest and their leading iPSC platform make them an ideal partner to transform in silico hits into breakthrough therapies. We look forward to integrating best in class experimental and computational approaches to break new ground together for the benefit of these patients.”

No financial details of the alliance were disclosed.

Since its launch in February 2008, Immuneering has partnered with leading pharmaceutical companies to accelerate and improve the discovery and clinical development of novel drugs. The Immuneering team applies proprietary computational biology methods and an advanced drug discovery platform to high-throughput molecular data, re-engineering the process by which new medicines are discovered and developed to be faster, less expensive, and more likely to succeed. The company’s proprietary drug discovery platform identifies “hits” (the molecular structures that form the basis of new medicines) in a matter of days or weeks, rather than the months or years of target identification and high-throughput screening typically required. This acceleration is made possible by applying artificial intelligence (AI) and other advanced algorithms to high-throughput data, and draws on Immuneering’s decade of experience in applying high-throughput data to pharmaceutical R&D. Immuneering’s team of experts also provides world-class bioinformatics and computational biology services. For additional information please go to www.immuneering.com and follow us on Twitter @Immuneering.

Information set forth in this press release contains forward-looking statements, which involve a number of risks and uncertainties. The forward-looking statements contained herein represent the judgement of Evotec as of the date of this press release. Such forward-looking statements are neither promises nor guarantees, but are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond our control, and which could cause actual results to differ materially from those contemplated in these forward-looking statements. We expressly disclaim any obligation or undertaking to release publicly any updates or revisions to any such statements to reflect any change in our expectations or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any such statement is based.