Evotec Acquires Zebrafish Screening Operations of Summit Corporation
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Evotec AG has announced that the Company will acquire the zebrafish screening operations of Summit Corporation plc, including operations in Abingdon, UK, and Singapore, for £ 0.5 million in cash.
Summit’s zebrafish technology is a strong addition to Evotec’s high-quality drug discovery platform. This capability is valuable to drug discovery as it provides important whole organism data about the safety and toxicity of drug-like molecules at an early stage of lead optimization. It thereby allows prioritization of the most promising compounds early in the drug discovery process, reducing the risk of potential later-stage failure and lowering costs in drug discovery and development.
Founded in 2003, Summit has built the leading zebrafish capability. The company had collaborated with more than 25 pharmaceutical companies worldwide. The alliances include a three-year research agreement with Johnson & Johnson signed at the end of 2008 to support the development of new assays using the zebrafish platform as well as collaborations with Bayer-Schering, Merck KGaA, Merz, Roche and Servier. Evotec expects this business to contribute revenue in 2009 (May to December) and to grow revenue and profitability over the next two years.
Dr Mario Polywka, Chief Operating Officer of Evotec commented: "We get access to a portfolio of validated safety pharmacology and toxicology assays and disease models for target validation that enjoy growing interest in our industry. The integration of this business offers significant synergies, including the move of Summit’s UK operations into our facilities in Abingdon, the integration of this offering into our global sales and marketing network as well as the use of the Singapore facility as a base to target new growth markets in the Far East, expanding our current business reach."
Summit’s zebrafish technology is a strong addition to Evotec’s high-quality drug discovery platform. This capability is valuable to drug discovery as it provides important whole organism data about the safety and toxicity of drug-like molecules at an early stage of lead optimization. It thereby allows prioritization of the most promising compounds early in the drug discovery process, reducing the risk of potential later-stage failure and lowering costs in drug discovery and development.
Founded in 2003, Summit has built the leading zebrafish capability. The company had collaborated with more than 25 pharmaceutical companies worldwide. The alliances include a three-year research agreement with Johnson & Johnson signed at the end of 2008 to support the development of new assays using the zebrafish platform as well as collaborations with Bayer-Schering, Merck KGaA, Merz, Roche and Servier. Evotec expects this business to contribute revenue in 2009 (May to December) and to grow revenue and profitability over the next two years.
Dr Mario Polywka, Chief Operating Officer of Evotec commented: "We get access to a portfolio of validated safety pharmacology and toxicology assays and disease models for target validation that enjoy growing interest in our industry. The integration of this business offers significant synergies, including the move of Summit’s UK operations into our facilities in Abingdon, the integration of this offering into our global sales and marketing network as well as the use of the Singapore facility as a base to target new growth markets in the Far East, expanding our current business reach."
