An alliance for personalized healthcare in cancer Research and Development
Roche (SIX: RO, ROG; OTCQX: RHHBY) and Evotec AG (FSE: EVT, TecDAX) today announced a collaboration in novel protein-activity based biomarkers for Roche's oncology drugs under development. Evotec AG will employ its PhosphoScout® platform to discover protein-phosphorylation's that predict favorable dosage and efficacy of targeted cancer drugs in patients. Roche will be responsible for conducting clinical trials as well as assessing the development of companion diagnostics for patient stratification.
"We are very pleased to collaborate with Evotec AG and benefit from the PhosphoScout® technology to identify appropriate pharmacodynamics and patient stratification biomarkers," said Mike Burgess, Global Head of Oncology, Roche Pharma Research and Exploratory Development. "These biomarkers are core to the development of targeted therapeutics for cancer therapy."
"Biomarker-based personalized healthcare has led to a paradigm shift in cancer therapy," said Dr. Werner Lanthaler, Chief Executive Officer of Evotec AG. "We are proud to partner Evotec's novel biomarker concept with Roche, the world leading personalized healthcare company, and its Pharma Research and Development Organization."
Under the initial three-year term Roche and Evotec will conduct multiple biomarker programs for therapeutic antibodies or small molecule inhibitors.
About the PhosphoScout® platform
Evotec's PhosphoScout® platform employs high-end mass spectrometry to identify and quantify thousands of cellular phosphorylation events on a global scale. Unlike immunoassays, PhosphoScout® allows truly unbiased systems-wide profiling of signalling pathways. Monitoring changes in the cellular phosphoproteome in response to drug treatment not only supports mechanistic understanding of targeted drugs but also enables the discovery of predictive biomarkers.
About Evotec AG
Evotec is a drug discovery alliance and development partnership company focused on rapidly progressing innovative product approaches with leading pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. Evotec operates worldwide providing the highest quality stand-alone and integrated drug discovery solutions, covering all activities from target-to-clinic. The Company has established a unique position by assembling top-class scientific experts and integrating state- of-the-art technologies as well as substantial experience and expertise in key therapeutic areas including neuroscience, pain, metabolic diseases as well as oncology and inflammation. Evotec has long-term discovery alliances with partners including Boehringer Ingelheim, CHDI, Genentech, Medimmune/Astra Zeneca, Novartis and Ono Pharmaceutical. In addition, the Company has existing development partnerships and product candidates both in clinical and preclinical development. For additional information: www.evotec.com.
About Roche
Headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, Roche is a leader in research-focused healthcare with combined strengths in pharmaceuticals and diagnostics. Roche is the world's largest biotech company with truly differentiated medicines in oncology, virology, inflammation, metabolism and CNS. Roche is also the world leader in in-vitro diagnostics, tissue-based cancer diagnostics and a pioneer in diabetes management. Roche's personalised healthcare strategy aims at providing medicines and diagnostic tools that enable tangible improvements in the health, quality of life and survival of patients. In 2010, Roche had over 80'000 employees worldwide and invested over 9 billion Swiss francs in R&D. The Group posted sales of 47.5 billion Swiss francs. Genentech, United States, is a wholly owned member of the Roche Group. Roche has a majority stake in Chugai Pharmaceutical, Japan. For more information: www.roche.com.