Evotec Expands into Gene Therapy, Enters Collaboration with Takeda

Rare Daily Staff

German biotech Evotec said that it has established Evotec GT, a dedicated site for research and development of gene therapies, which will start operations at an R&D site in Orth/Donau, Austria and separately announced a multi-year gene therapy research alliance with Takeda.

The company said its Evotec GT operations complement its existing expertise and is part of its vision of becoming a fully modality-agnostic drug discovery and development partnership company.

The team in Austria have worked together for many years and applied their research within gene therapy to different gene therapy-related technologies as well as various indications. The scientists have deep expertise in vectorology and virology as well as disease insights, in particular in hemophilia, hematology, metabolic, and muscle diseases.

“Gene therapy is a promising approach in the development of genetic medicines for patients, especially for inherited and rare diseases,” said Werner Lanthaler, CEO of Evotec. “Finding the best candidate agnostic of modality for any given disease biology will ultimately bring forward the best medicine for patients.” 

Evotec’s agreement with Takeda establishes a long-term research alliance to support Takeda’s growing number of research-stage gene therapy discovery programs.

Under the alliance, Evotec will support multiple Takeda programs targeting conditions aligned with Takeda’s core therapeutic areas of oncology, rare diseases, neuroscience, and gastroenterology. The companies did not disclose financial terms of the agreement.

“Gene therapy is a growing therapeutic approach in our portfolio and this alliance with Evotec will help us further accelerate our delivery of transformative therapies for patients, particularly those with rare diseases,” Steven Hitchcock, Global Head of Research for Takeda.

Photo: Werner Lanthaler, CEO of Evotec