On March 15, 2023 Evotec SE (Frankfurt Stock Exchange: EVT, MDAX/TecDAX, ISIN: DE0005664809; NASDAQ: EVO) reported progress within the Company’s strategic partnership with Bristol Myers Squibb relating to building a molecular glue-based pipeline (Press release, Evotec, MAR 15, 2023, View Source [SID1234628924]). Performance-based and programme-based achievements trigger payments of in total US$ 75 m to Evotec.
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Evotec and Bristol Myers Squibb entered their strategic protein degradation partnership in 2018 and expanded it in May of 2022, because of the highly productive initial collaboration generating a promising pipeline. Since the expansion, Evotec has significantly scaled up its activities to develop highly promising compounds from Bristol Myers Squibb’s industry-leading library of cereblon E3 ligase modulators ("CELMoDs"). The partnership continues to deliver on its goal to build a leading pipeline of novel molecular glue degraders, targeting high-value targets in the field of oncology and beyond.
Dr Cord Dohrmann, Chief Scientific Officer of Evotec, commented: "The recent extension and expansion of our partnership with BMS continues to deliver high value programs. Our Omics-based, highly systematic, and industrialised approach to identify very promising molecular glues continually exceeds all expectations and will translate into an extraordinary pipeline of first-in-class product opportunities."
About molecular glue degraders
Conventional small molecule therapeutics work via a drug-induced interference with a protein activity. This limitation to agonistic or antagonistic functions renders about 90% of proteins "undruggable". Also, conventional small molecules only work while they are actively binding to the receptor, which typically requires a treatment regimen consisting of one or even several carefully dosed medications every day.
Molecular glue degraders are compounds that induce interactions between an E3 ubiquitin ligase and a molecular target. The induced interaction results in ubiquitination and subsequent degradation of the recruited protein. Through this mechanism of action molecular glues are not restricted to the agonistic/antagonistic features of a protein, thus massively expanding the range of the druggable proteome. Also, the molecular glue itself is not degraded in the process and can trigger the degradation process several times over, thus leading to longer-lasting therapeutic effects.