Evotec to Launch its First Innovation Centre for Fragment Based Drug Discovery

Evotec AG has announced the launch of its Innovation Centre for Fragment Based Drug Discovery (FBDD).

FBDD offers an alternative approach for identifying small molecule hits (fragments) for a number of biological targets including those that have proved problematic using traditional drug discovery methods as successfully demonstrated by companies such as Astex.

Fragments, ideal starting points for evolution to subsequent lead compounds due to their low molecular weight, are difficult to detect due to their weak interactions with protein targets.

Evotec has implemented a fragment screening platform, EVOlution, capable of identifying low molecular weight fragments in a biologically relevant environment. The initial step is carried out using Evotec’s ultra sensitive screening technologies and its library of 20,000 fragments designed and selected by its medicinal chemists.

Combining this screening process with subsequent protein-ligand X-ray crystallography, Evotec’s EVOlution technology can identify small molecule fragment hits for various, often difficult biological targets in a very short period of time.

Evotec has already validated the EVOlution technology against a number of biologically relevant targets including kinases, proteases and protein-protein interactions for therapeutic applications including the Central Nervous System (CNS), oncology, inflammation, metabolic disease and cardio-vascular diseases.