Evotec, a German drug-discovery shop, is partnering with Centogene, a rare disease genetic diagnostic specialist, to develop new compounds.
The collaboration was established to develop a high-throughput platform for testing novel small molecules in rare hereditary metabolic diseases. Financial terms of the partnership weren’t disclosed.
The agreement matches Evotec’s induced pluripotent stem cell platform and drug discovery background with Centogene’s deep experience in the field as well as its genotype-phenotype data that allows for fast rapid biomarker development using a patient’s own cells.
““The identification and development of innovative small molecules to treat rare, hereditary conditions is particularly challenging because of the absence of adequate cellular models and the general lack of specific biomarkers to monitor the different diseases,” Dr. Arndt Rolfs, Centogene’s chief executive, said in a statement. “With this innovative collaboration between Evotec and Centogene, we can accelerate the development of new drugs.”
In recent years, Centogene has gone from offering single-gene tests and panels to providing whole exome and genome sequencing. The whole genome-sequencing operation got going in 2016 when Centogene installed five HiSeq X machines and Illumina’s population-scale sequencing device.