Evotec and Pfizer have entered a multi-year partnership that will focus initially on early discovery research.

As part of the master research collaboration and option and licence agreement, the two companies will focus on research for metabolic and infectious diseases.

Evotec plans to undertake research activities at its facilities in France, including the advanced Campus Curie research site in Toulouse.

The site is equipped with high throughput screening capacity, in vitro and in vivo biology, metabolomics and proteomics.

Evotec chief business officer Dr Matthias Evers stated: “We are honoured to collaborate with Pfizer to research potential new first-in-class therapeutic approaches.

“Focusing on diseases with severe unmet medical needs and highly innovative therapeutic approaches, we look forward to supporting our partners at Pfizer with integrated R&D [research and development] activities.”

Evotec will benefit from research support funding from Pfizer and may receive potential milestones and royalty payments contingent on the success of the programmes.

Pfizer France vice-president and medical lead Dr Luca Mollo stated: “We are thrilled to collaborate with Evotec to conduct discovery research that may help unlock new approaches to treating pervasive metabolic and infectious diseases that impact millions of patients worldwide.

“France has developed a strong biopharmaceutical ecosystem, which is why we’re thrilled to collaborate with Evotec to build on our shared commitment to advancing scientific discovery for diseases with unmet need.”

In April 2024, Evotec and Variant Bio teamed up to detect a treatment for ailments caused by fibrosis.

The alliance will combine Variant Bio’s genomic discovery expertise and its VB-Inference platform with Evotec’s antifibrotic drug discovery capabilities.