Corporate | 14 October 2003 08:59

Evotec OAI AG english

Evotec OAI + Biofrontera to Offer Natural Compounds for Drug Discovery Services Corporate-news announcement sent by DGAP. The sender is solely responsible for the contents of this announcement. ——————————————————————————– Evotec OAI AG (Deutsche Börse: EVT, TecDax 30) and Biofrontera Pharmaceuticals Holding AG today announced the signing of a co-marketing and distribution agreement to offer natural compounds for drug discovery services. For high- throughput screening Biofrontera utilises a unique collection of microorganisms and several million natural compounds derived from them. Evotec OAI will incorporate these compounds into its ultra-high-throughput screening services augmenting its diverse screening library of small molecules. Pharmacological and chemical services on structures resulting from natural compound screens will be provided by both companies to customers to rapidly progress promising leads into the clinic. Biofrontera’s huge, largely unexploited pool of natural compounds constitutes a rich source of potential drug candidates. About 140,000 subfractions, containing over 2 million compounds, are immediately available for screening and the number of subfractions can be extended several-fold. Evotec OAI’s unmatched ability to rapidly screen huge numbers of com-pounds by using its proprietary EVOscreen platform, generating excellent data quality, is an ideal combination for this extensive natural compound library. Following the isolation of active compounds after screening, the companies will offer customers all the services needed to progress optimised leads into clinical development. These include re- fermentation, compound isolation, structure determination, chemical optimisation, and pharmacological characterisation in cell cultures as well as in a range of selected disease models. During the collaboration, Biofrontera will not enter into similar agreements with other providers of screening services, but is free to collaborate on its own with customers and partners in drug discovery and development. Natural compounds have significant therapeutic potential and more than 50% of drugs on the market today are based on natural compounds as the active principle. Whereas standard discovery processes are not ideally suited to exploiting natural compounds, the combination of Evotec OAI’s screening and medicinal chemistry platform and Biofrontera’s complementary discovery skills is well suited to optimise such processes to the benefit of customers’ drug development programmes. About Biofrontera AG Biofrontera AG is a privately-held biotechnology company focused on the discovery and development of drugs for the treatment of nervous system diseases. Biofrontera has developed an integrated technology platform of pharmacological and genomics tools, synthetic chemistry and natural compounds to bring drugs into early development, both for in-house programs and pharmaceutical partners. The company has recently strengthened its research portfolio with the acquisition of all the assets of bioLeads GmbH. Biofrontera has built a well- balanced project pipeline with a first project in Phase II clinical trials, followed by research projects at various stages of preclinical development, lead finding and optimisation. http://www.biofrontera.com/ About Evotec OAI AG Evotec OAI has established itself as the partner of choice for drug discovery and development services for pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies world- wide, maintaining its leadership role through innovation and unmatched customer service. The Company’s business strategy is clearly focused on drug discovery. It has established the most comprehensive technology platform and skills that integrate its world-class biology and chemistry capabilities. Evotec OAI leverages this discovery engine in providing assay development and screening through to compound optimisation and drug manufacturing services to a broad and well-established network of customers. Evotec OAI’s instrument and technology business is now successfully handled by its affiliate, Evotec Technologies. With over 600 people in Hamburg, Germany, and Oxfordshire, UK, Evotec OAI is dedicated to returning value to its shareholders and employees through a sus- tainable business strategy that balances short-term and long-term revenue opportunities. http://www.evotecoai.com Contact: Anne Hennecke, Investor Relations & Corporate Communications, Evotec OAI AG, phone: +49-40-56081-286, anne.hennecke@evotecoai.com end of message, (c)DGAP 14.10.2003 ——————————————————————————– WKN: 566480; ISIN: DE0005664809; Index: TecDAX, NEMAX 50 Listed: Geregelter Markt in Frankfurt (Prime Standard); Freiverkehr in Berlin- Bremen, Düsseldorf, Hamburg, Hannover, München und Stuttgart 140859 Okt 03