On September 30, 2019 Evotec SE (Frankfurt Stock Exchange: EVT, MDAX/TecDAX, ISIN: DE0005664809) and Indivumed GmbH reported that the first milestone has been successfully achieved in their joint collaboration to identify new therapeutic targets for the treatment of colorectal cancer (Press release, Evotec, SEP 30, 2019, View Source;announcements/press-releases/p/evotec-and-indivumed-achieve-milestone-in-joint-strategic-drug-discovery-collaboration-5849 [SID1234539900]).

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Under the terms of the collaboration agreement, Evotec received full access to the colorectal cancer ("CRC") multi-omics data of IndivuType. The milestone of selecting three novel drug targets was achieved in less than three months.

The first set of identified targets will now be progressed towards first-in-class therapeutics for the treatment of CRC using Evotec’s multimodality drug discovery and development platforms. Four additional candidate targets identified by Indivumed’s bioinformatic and analytics will also enter the joint development programme.

Indivumed’s commitment to generating high quality and extensive cancer patient information is complementary and synergistic to Evotec’s expertise in analysing highly complex multi-omics data. Evotec will be responsible for subsequent partnering of the programmes and/or the platform.

Dr Cord Dohrmann, Chief Scientific Officer of Evotec, said: "The rapid identification of truly novel drug targets reflects the power of our approach to precision medicine that we are pursuing together with Indivumed. The rigorous quality standards employed by Indivumed in the generation of the IndivuType multi-omics patient database enables novel insights into target-disease associations in colorectal cancer which are expected to deliver more effective treatment options."

Prof. Dr Hartmut Juhl, Chief Executive Officer of Indivumed, said: "We are pleased with the rapid progress being made in our collaboration with Evotec to discover novel drugs that will advance the treatment of colorectal cancer (CRC) patients and potentially other cancer entities. IndivuType has enabled CRC subpopulations to be characterised based on molecular phenotypes with greater precision than has been possible before. As a result, the targets that have been identified are expected to deliver more effective and durable drugs to transform CRC patient care."

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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.