Evotec building

Evotec and Chinook to partner on new kidney disease treatments

pharmafile | March 1, 2021 | News story | Sales and Marketing CKD, Chinook, Evotec, chronic kidney disease, kidney disease 

Evotec and Chinook Therapeutics have agreed a deal to discover and develop new therapies for patients with chronic kidney diseases (CKD).

As part of the agreement, Evotec will receive an undisclosed up-front payment, research funding, and possible milestone and royalty fees in the future. Chinook will be responsible for clinical development and commercialisation of product candidates.

Using Evotec’s molecular datasets from thousands of patients of multiple CKDs, the two companies will identify, characterise, and validate novel mechanisms to uncover and make new precision medicines.

The collaboration will use Evotec’s PanOmics platform, which combines enhanced throughput proteomics, high throughput transcriptomics, and cell imaging, along with the company’s data analysis technology.

The two companies will partner these platforms with Chinook’s drug discovery and development programmes to target rare kidney conditions such as IgA nephropathy and glomerular diseases. 

Andrew King PhD, Head of Renal Discovery and Translational Medicine at Chinook, said: “Gaining access to the NURTuRE cohort study and other proprietary patient biobanks, along with Evotec’s multi-omics integration platform, will enable us to define the molecular drivers of kidney diseases, identify novel targets for drug development in selected patient sub-populations, and continue to build the foundation for our precision medicine approach. 

“With a focus on comprehensive molecular disease classification, combined with prospective clinical outcomes, Chinook has the opportunity to potentially deliver targeted therapies to the right patient populations.”

Dr Cord Dohrmann, Chief Scientific Officer of Evotec, added: “CKD is a collective term for a variety of diseases that cause a gradual loss of kidney function. The diversity in the underlying causes makes this area especially favourable for data-driven and systematically personalised approaches. 

“By leveraging our complementary platforms, Evotec and Chinook have the best possible starting position to tackle in-particular rare forms of CKD with the goal to develop disease-modifying therapeutics for underserved patient populations.”

Jack Goddard

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