September 11, 2009 (FinancialWire) — Evotec AG (Frankfurt: EVT) (NASDAQ: EVTC), a provider in the discovery and development of novel small molecule drugs, has entered into a research agreement with Biogen Idec (NASDAQ: BIIB), a leading biopharmaceutical company headquartered in Cambridge, Mass., USA.

Evotec will use its expertise and technologies in protein production, assay development and high throughput screening to identify hit molecules for Biogen Idec. Under the research agreement Evotec will screen a target selected by Biogen Idec with the option to add further targets as agreed. Evotec will provide Biogen Idec with access to its full range of screening technologies and diverse library of high quality compounds and will use its expertise in protein production and assay development to develop new assays for the target.

Dr. Mark Ashton, Evotec’s EVP, Business Development commented: “We believe that the quality of future drug candidates is very much dependent on the identification of high quality starting points. To this end we have established a platform of screening technologies that have been proven to identify high-class hit molecules. We are looking forward to working with Biogen Idec and identifying interesting hit compounds for them.”

Evotec has built a comprehensive platform of hit finding technologies that allow it to screen challenging targets and identify new classes of hit compounds that can be progressed towards new treatments for various diseases. These proven screening technologies coupled with Evotec’s high quality screening library have been shown to unlock numerous biological targets and identify excellent start points for subsequent optimization.

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