On April 11, 2019 Evotec SE (Frankfurt Stock Exchange: EVT, MDAX/TecDAX, ISIN: DE0005664809) and Indivumed GmbH reported that they have entered into a research collaboration to discover and develop first-in-class therapeutics for the treatment of colorectal cancer ("CRC") (Press release, Evotec, APR 11, 2019, View Source;announcements/press-releases/p/evotec-and-indivumed-announce-strategic-drug-discovery-collaboration-on-precision-medicine-for-colorectal-cancer-5799 [SID1234535097]). The collaboration, which runs for an initial term of two years, will combine Evotec’s proprietary bioinformatics analysis platform "PanHunter" as well as its small molecule and antibody discovery platforms with the CRC cohort of Indivumed’s true multi-omics cancer database "IndivuType". The goal of this precision medicine collaboration is to deliver highly effective and durable treatments with clear strategies for CRC patient stratification.

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Indivumed’s commitment to generating high quality and extensive cancer patient data is synergistic to Evotec’s expertise in analysing multi-omics data and developing novel platforms to aid the discovery of first-in-class clearly differentiated small molecule and antibody therapeutics.

Under the terms of the agreement, Evotec has made an undisclosed upfront payment to Indivumed for access to the CRC patient cohort of the IndivuType database. Both parties will jointly invest in data analysis, target identification, validation, and drug discovery. Evotec will be responsible for subsequent partnering of the programmes and/or the platform.

Dr Cord Dohrmann, Chief Scientific Officer of Evotec, said: "Evotec is very pleased to partner with Indivumed, who is truly dedicated to developing precision medicine in oncology by generating the most comprehensive multi-omics patient database in oncology that is differentiated from previous datasets due to the higher patient numbers and the application of rigorous quality standards. The access to IndivuType will allow us to identify targets that are matched to CRC subpopulations which have been categorised due to molecular phenotypes and are thus expected to deliver more effective and durable drugs".

Prof. Dr Hartmut Juhl, Chief Executive Officer of Indivumed, said: "IndivuType is the only true multi-omics database available in the world, enabling break-through insights that lead to new cancer solutions. Our partnership with Evotec fits well with realising our vision of using the multi-omics data within IndivuType to generate new precision medicine therapeutics. We are excited about the prospect of identifying novel drug targets and biomarkers that will help advance and transform CRC patient care. Our team will be attending ASCO (Free ASCO Whitepaper) where clinicians and researchers will have the opportunity to explore more about IndivuType".

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About Colorectal Cancer ("CRC")
Colorectal cancer, a cancer that starts in the colon or rectum is the third most common malignancy and the fourth leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide. Rapid increases in both CRC incidence and mortality are now observed in Eastern Europe, Asia, and South America. In contrast, CRC incidence and mortality rates have been stabilising or declining in the USA, Australia, New Zealand, and several Western European countries. The reasons for decreasing trends in CRC mortality are knowledge of risk factors, early detection and prevention, and improvements in perioperative care. Since the five-year overall survival for patients with metastatic CRC is poor (14%), there yet remains a strong need to develop new therapeutics for this disease.