Evotec is headed to the bank with a cool $20 million after Bristol Myers Squibb opted in on a neurodegenerative medicine called EVT8683.
The licensing opt-in could also trigger $250 million in milestone payments down the line plus royalties on future sales.
EVT8683 is the first treatment to emerge from a collaboration Evotec signed back in 2016 with Celgene, the company that was gobbled up by Bristol Myers soon after. The $45 million upfront deal includes programs for other neurodegenerative diseases as well, with $250 million in milestones up for grabs if successful. Bristol Myers expanded the deal in 2020 to include additional cell lines for a $6 million payment to Evotec.
Evotec said that the small-molecule therapy EVT8683 is ready for clinical development after the FDA cleared a request for human testing. The biotech developed the therapy from its induced pluripotent stem cell drug discovery platform, which screens human models to find new therapies quickly.
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The companies did not name the specific indications that will be targeted with the new therapy. Bristol Myers will lead development and commercialization from this point.
Bristol Myers’ opt-in with Evotec is the latest sign that the new parent company is getting what it paid for through the $74 billion deal to buy Celgene.
New York-based Bristol Myers also opted in on an immune system modulator from artificial-intelligence-powered drug miner Exscientia for $20 million in August. The therapy is the first to emerge from a $1.2 billion partnership Celgene signed with Exscientia in 2019.
Cancer and inflammatory disease-focused Celgene seems to have brought in plenty of open-ended discovery deals to stock Bristol Myers’ pipeline.