Dana-Farber’s Belfer Institute for Applied Cancer Science and Evotec Collaborate

The goal of the collaboration is to validate emerging epigenetic targets for oncology indications and to demonstrate the drugability of the selected target families. Evotec, Dana-Farber and Dana-Farber’s Belfer Institute for Applied Cancer Science will invest in enabling technologies, experimental target validation and the generation of chemical matter by leveraging existing expertise and platforms. The collaboration will be fuelled by substantial scientific contributions from the three organisations aligned on the objective to develop therapies that address unmet medical needs for cancer patients.

Epigenetics is a rapidly evolving high potential field of pharmaceutical research, calling for close relationships between academia and biotechnology innovators. By combining the complimentary capabilities of Dana-Farber, the Belfer Institute for Applied Cancer Science and Evotec this collaboration is uniquely positioned to succeed.

“We are very proud to have entered into this collaboration with Dana-Farber and the Belfer Institute for Applied Cancer Science, which perfectly matches our innovation strategy as described in Evotec’s Action Plan 2016”, said Dr Werner Lanthaler, CEO of Evotec. “We are enthusiastic about exploring novel targets that have the potential to produce first-in-class therapeutics for the treatment of cancer.”

Dr Jessie English, Head of Research at the Belfer Institute for Applied Cancer Science, added:”This pioneering partnership provides a unique opportunity to combine Evotec’s drug discovery capabilities with Belfer Institute for Applied Cancer Science and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute’s expertise in oncology disease biology to accelerate the development of new medicines for patients.”