Following the signing of the beLAB2122 collaboration agreement in April 2021, Evotec has now nominated the first project to be developed under this academic BRIDGE partnership.
The project, planned in the laboratory of Darjus Tschaharganeh at the German Cancer Research Center (Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum, DKFZ), involves the development of compounds that target cancer cells on the basis of so-called “synthetic lethality“. Scientists speak of synthetic lethal interactions between two genes when a cell is viable when one of these two genes is disrupted, but the disruption of both genes at the same time leads to a loss of viability. „Our project aims to develop small-molecular inhibitors of a nutrient transporter important for the survival of certain cancer cells. beLAB2122 provides the fantastic opportunity to use Evotec's integrated research and development platform to validate and further develop our project with the goal to advance it to a point where new, jointly operated spin-off company with BMS can be formed, said Tschaharganeh, group leader at the DKFZ, and Professor at Heidelberg University.
beLAB2122 will now use Evotec's integrated research and development platform to validate and further develop the project. The goal of beLAB2122 is to advance academic projects to a point where new, jointly operated spin-off companies can be formed.
beLAB2122 brings together the leading academic institutions from the Rhine-Main-Neckar region to efficiently translate promising treatment approaches in all therapeutic areas and formats into investable drug discovery and early development projects.