Evotec and Secarna Pharmaceuticals expand strategic partnership in the field of antisense drug discovery

Munich/Martinsried and Hamburg, Germany, 02 September 2021:
Evotec SE (Frankfurt Stock Exchange: EVT, MDAX/TecDAX, ISIN: DE0005664809) and Secarna Pharmaceuticals GmbH & Co. KG ("Secarna"), a biopharmaceutical company focusing on the discovery and development of next-generation antisense oligonucleotide ("ASO") therapies to address challenging or previously undruggable targets via its LNAplus™ platform, have expanded their strategic partnership in the field of ASO-based therapeutics. 

The new agreement expands the ongoing successful collaboration between Evotec and Secarna initiated in August 2020. The parties are now also working on industry partners’ discovery, research and development programmes, leveraging Secarna's industry-leading antisense oligonucleotide expertise with Evotec's unparalleled discovery and development capabilities.

Dr Craig Johnstone, Chief Operating Officer of Evotec, said: “We are delighted to open our strategic partnership with Secarna for third-party programmes. Secarna’s validated ASO technology provides a highly promising pathway to access targets commonly deemed ‘undruggable’. Leveraging Secarna’s LNAplus™ technology through the capacity and capabilities of Evotec’s multimodality drug discovery platform will unlock a vast opportunity space for a broad range of partnerships with third parties to develop disease-modifying therapies in indications with high unmet medical need.”

Alexander Gebauer, MD, PhD, Chief Executive Officer of Secarna Pharmaceuticals, said: "We are excited to further expand our successful alliance with Evotec. Integrating our proven expertise in the field of antisense discovery into Evotec's well established discovery and development platform, we form a strong foundation for enabling and strengthening third-party pipelines with our LNAplus™ ASOs. We are looking forward to continue working with Evotec to make new therapeutic options available to industry partners and the many patients who urgently need them."