Evotec has set up a “pre-competitive” initiative to support customers’ drug and vaccine R&D efforts in the event of future pandemics.
The German contract services firm described its “PRROTECT” program as a “comprehensive set of novel projects and technologies to be better prepared for and respond faster to viral pandemics of the future.”
The program consists of three elements: the development of a pipeline of therapies that target the most threatening viruses, as defined by the WHO; AI techs to speed neutralizing antibody R&D; and a manufacturing network able to rapidly make antibody drugs.
Evotec CEO Werner Lanthaler cited the coronavirus pandemic as the prompt for setting up the new service.
“COVID-19 has taught us that any pandemic response is incomplete without effective therapeutics. Preparing for the next pandemic rather than reacting to an outbreak can accelerate the response time until effective therapeutics are available dramatically.
“We want to see the launch of PRROTECT as an open invitation to all interested network partners globally to join forces now, so that no generation has to experience the level of unpreparedness that we all suffered from in the last two years ever again."
Anti-infectives collaboration
Thomas Hanke, the firm’s head of Academic partnerships, explained: "A post-COVID-19 viral pandemic is likely.
“To substantially curb its impact on human health, a collaborative approach between academic researchers and drug developers in the biotech and Pharma industries around the globe to discover and pre-develop novel broad and quick-acting anti-viral therapies will be key."
The program is an extension of Evotec’s wider effort – through partnerships with academic, pharma, and public stakeholders – to promote and support the pharmaceutical industry’s development of anti-infectives.
One example is the program Evotec entered in 2019. The project – which is backed by funding from the Gates Foundation – is focused on the development of novel therapies for tuberculosis and malaria.
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