Corporate | 16 January 2003 09:00

Evotec OAI AG english

Evotec OAI Achieves Milestone with Clinical Advancement of Vertex Compound Corporate-news announcement sent by DGAP. The sender is solely responsible for the contents of this announcement. ——————————————————————————– Evotec OAI Achieves Milestone with Clinical Advancement of Vertex Compound Hamburg, Germany | Abingdon, UK – Evotec OAI AG (Deutsche Börse: EVT, Prime Standard), a partner for integrated high-value-added drug discovery to the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries, announced today that it achieved a clinical milestone in its drug discovery chemistry services agreement with Vertex Pharmaceuticals. An undisclosed milestone payment has been triggered by a drug candidate advancing in clinical testing. This drug candidate was identified and optimised with the help of chemistry services and libraries provided to Vertex by Evotec OAI. As part of an agreement that began in 1998, Vertex has utilised a broad range of chemistries Evotec OAI has to offer and Evotec OAI has provided compounds and compound arrays for pharmaceutical screening and lead optimisation. “We are proud to have significantly contributed to the optimisation of one of Vertex’s clinical candidates. The achievement of this clinical milestone is a true validation of the quality of our chemistry support,” said Joern Aldag, President and Chief Executive Officer of Evotec OAI. “Evotec OAI’s quality of services has provided a valuable complement to our internal resources,” said Dr. Scott Harbeson, Principal Investigator, Chemistry at Vertex Pharmaceuticals. “We have worked closely with Evotec OAI, and the advancement of this drug candidate is a positive result for the relationship between Vertex and Evotec OAI.” About Evotec OAI AG Evotec OAI offers a comprehensive range of high-value added services and prod- ucts required to increase the efficiency and at the same time reduce the risk in the identification of new drugs. By integrating proprietary state-of-the-art technologies and processes in biology, chemistry and screening, the Company has established a unique position for all the critical elements in the drug discovery and development process – from target to clinical development. Due to its extensive know how and experience Evotec OAI is the ideal partner for pharma and biotech companies world-wide. To date, Evotec OAI has completed over 1,200 projects with 150 companies, including all of the top 20 global pharmaceutical companies and major biotechs. The Company employs more than 600 people, primarily at its two main sites at Hamburg in Germany and Abingdon in the UK. Subsidiaries are located in Europe and North America. In 2001 Evotec OAI achieved revenues of EUR 63.2 million. Evotec OAI shares are listed on the Prime Standard of the Frankfurt Stock Ex- change (NM: EVT). About Vertex Pharmaceuticals Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated is a global biotechnology company. Vertex seeks to discover, develop, and commercialise major pharmaceutical products independently and with partners. Chemogenomics, Vertex’s proprietary, system- atic, genomics-based platform, is designed to accelerate the discovery of new drugs and to expand intellectual property coverage of drug candidate compounds and classes of related compounds. This approach, which targets gene families, has formed the basis for several commercial collaborations under which Vertex retains rights to downstream revenue. Vertex’s first approved product is Agenerase (amprenavir), an HIV protease inhibitor, which Vertex co-promotes with GlaxoSmith-Kline. Vertex has more than 12 drug candidates in clinical and preclinical development to treat viral diseases, inflammation, cancer, autoimmune diseases, neurological disorders and genetic disorders. Contact: Evotec OAI AG Anne Hennecke Investor Relations & Corporate Communications Phone: +49-40-56081-286 Fax: +49-40-56081-333 E-Mail: anne.hennecke@evotecoai.com Contact: Vertex Pharmaceuticals: Michael Partridge Director, Corporate Communications Phone: +1-617-444-6108 end of message, (c)DGAP 16.01.2003 ——————————————————————————– WKN: 566480; ISIN: DE0005664809; Index: NEMAX50 Listed: Neuer Markt in Frankfurt; Freiverkehr in Berlin, Bremen, Düsseldorf, Hamburg, Hannover, München und Stuttgart 160900 Jän 03