HAMBURG, Germany - Evotec SE (Frankfurt Stock Exchange: EVT, MDAX/TecDAX, ISIN: DE0005664809; NASDAQ: EVO) and Variant Bio, Inc. have entered into a strategic collaboration aimed at discovering and developing new treatments for fibrotic diseases, which currently lack curative options and pose a significant global health burden.
The alliance brings together Variant Bio's advanced genomic discovery platform and Evotec's comprehensive R&D capabilities. Variant Bio's VB-Inference platform and Evotec's expertise in antifibrotic drug discovery are expected to play key roles in identifying and progressing small molecules targeting fibrotic pathways towards clinical development.
Dr. Matthias Evers, Chief Business Officer of Evotec, expressed enthusiasm about the partnership, emphasizing the alignment of Variant's genomics-focused model with Evotec's data-driven approach to drug discovery. Andrew Farnum, CEO of Variant Bio, highlighted Evotec's validated models as vital for accelerating the fibrosis program's progress.
The collaboration is structured as a risk-sharing partnership, with Evotec receiving undisclosed research funding and potentially pre-clinical and clinical milestones and/or royalties based on the program's success. This arrangement allows Variant Bio to mitigate early drug development costs while retaining a share of future benefits.
Variant Bio's approach to developing therapies involves studying the genes of people with exceptional health traits. The company's ethical stance includes a benefit-sharing program that ensures communities providing genetic data receive tangible benefits.
Evotec, on the other hand, is known for its multimodal platform that supports the discovery and development of pharmaceutical products across various therapeutic areas.
This partnership is based on a press release statement and aims to address the unmet need in the treatment of fibrotic diseases, which lead to tissue degeneration in critical organs and contribute to mortality and morbidity worldwide. The companies have not disclosed specific financial terms or timelines for the development of potential treatments.
InvestingPro Insights
As Evotec SE (EVT) collaborates with Variant Bio to advance treatments for fibrotic diseases, investors might consider the financial health and market performance of Evotec. With a market capitalization of 1.67 billion USD, Evotec appears to be a significant player in the biotechnology industry.
One of the notable InvestingPro Tips is that Evotec has been a consistent dividend payer, maintaining payments for 22 consecutive years, which may appeal to income-focused investors. This commitment to returning value to shareholders is particularly noteworthy given the company's current dividend yield of 8.81%, as of the latest data.
Still, it is important to note that Evotec's P/E ratio stands at -49.96, reflecting challenges in profitability over the last twelve months, as indicated by another InvestingPro Tip. Furthermore, despite a revenue growth of 14.01% in the last twelve months as of Q4 2023, the company has not been profitable during this period.
This could suggest that while the company is growing its top line, it is still navigating through the challenges of translating revenue into net income.
For investors interested in the company's stock stability, Evotec's stock generally trades with low price volatility, which could be a reassuring factor for risk-averse investors. Additionally, with more InvestingPro Tips available, investors can gain deeper insights into Evotec's financials and market performance. For example, there are a total of 5 additional InvestingPro Tips listed on InvestingPro that could provide further guidance on the investment potential of Evotec.
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