Evotec And CHDI Foundation Extend Strategic Drug Discovery Collaboration In Huntington's Disease

• Longstanding alliance between Evotec and CHDI to enable the development of therapeutics for Huntington's disease
• One of Evotec's largest strategic drug discovery alliances

Evotec SE has announced the extension of its 20-year collaboration with CHDI Foundation, Inc. ("CHDI"). CHDI is a privately funded nonprofit biomedical research organisation exclusively dedicated to collaboratively developing therapeutics that will substantially improve the lives of those affected by Huntington's disease. The collaboration will further our fundamental scientific understanding of the disease and thereby aid the development of new effective treatments.

The collaboration utilises Evotec's integrated neuroscience platform and broad expertise in CNS drug discovery and development. It covers a wide range of biology and chemistry services supported by compound and library management, target validation, stem-cell research, high-content screening, computational chemistry, pharmacology, protein production, and biomarker discovery and validation across multiple sites. Initiated in 2006, the long-standing collaboration is one of the largest strategic drug discovery alliances within Evotec.

Dr Craig Johnstone, Chief Operating Officer of Evotec, commented: "We are delighted that CHDI recognises the value of our long and highly cooperative relationship. We are tremendously proud of our continued contribution to the fight against Huntington's disease with our colleagues at CHDI, which underscores our unwavering joint commitment to finding new therapies for people affected by this devastating condition."

Dr Robert Pacifici, Chief Scientific Officer at CHDI, added: "Over the past 20 years, our colleagues at Evotec have been critical to CHDI's preclinical research programs and truly valued scientific allies in our mission to develop therapeutics for people with Huntington's disease. We look forward to continuing our longstanding and productive research collaboration into the foreseeable future."

About Huntington's disease
Huntington's disease is a familial disease caused by a mutation in the huntingtin gene. Each child of a parent carrying this mutation has a 50-50 chance of inheriting the condition. Due to the presence of the mutation, an individual´s brain cells undergo failure and subsequent death, resulting in cognitive and physical impairments. These challenges intensify over the course of the disease, significantly impairing the individual's quality of life and ultimately leading to death. Symptoms of Huntington's disease, which generally develop in midlife and become progressively more debilitating over time, can also emerge in infancy or old age. Once overt symptoms start, patients typically live for about 15 to 20 years. Currently, there is no way to delay the onset of symptoms or slow the progression of Huntington's disease. It is estimated that the disorder affects about 30,000 people in the United States, and at least 150,000 others have a 50% risk of developing Huntington's disease at some point.