Evotec entered into a collaboration with Probiodrug, a privately owned biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of drugs for the treatment of major age-related diseases.
Evotec will setup and validate assays to support the preclinical and clinical development of glutaminyl cyclase (QC) inhibitors for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease. Glutaminyl cyclase is an enzyme target discovered and validated by Probiodrug, which, according to the firm, plays a crucial role in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer’s disease as well as potentially other diseases.
Probiodrug was founded in 1997 by Hans-Ulrich Demuth, Ph.D., and Konrad Glund, Ph.D. In January of this year, Probiodrug secured €15 million (approximately $19.3 million) in financing through a fundraising round with existing investors to support further development of its QC inhibitor program, including lead clinical-stage candidate PQ912. According to the firm, PQ912 is the first QC inhibitor to be evaluated in the clinic.
Also, earlier this month, Evotec signed a collaboration agreement with Haplogen to discover and develop small molecules against viral infectious diseases.
