Evotec and Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf Enter Partnership to Develop iPSC-Based Tissue Therapy f – PharmiWeb.com

DGAP-News: Evotec SE / Key word(s): Miscellaneous 04.02.2021 / 07:30 The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.

Hamburg, Germany, 04 February, 2021: Evotec SE (Frankfurt Stock Exchange: EVT, MDAX/TecDAX, ISIN: DE0005664809) today announced that the Company has entered into a multi-year partnership with the Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf ("UKE") for the development of a highly innovative first-in-class cell therapy approach for the treatment of heart failure.

Under the terms of the partnership, Evotec and UKE will leverage their complementary strengths for the development of a new cell therapy approach using Engineered Heart Tissue for the treatment of heart failure. Heart failure is frequently associated with ischemic heart disease and often comes with a poor prognosis. Mortality is comparable to that of the most common cancers, with <50% 4-year survival. Treatment of patients suffering from heart failure is expected to deliver significant patient benefit through improved heart function, ultimately leading to an improved prognosis.

Evotec leverages its industry-leading human induced pluripotent stem cells ("hiPSCs") platform to establish GMP-compatible process development and upscaling for large-scale generation of clinical-grade heart muscle cells known as cardiomyocytes. Evotec will also contribute genetically modified GMP iPSC lines, which contain alterations preventing rejection of the cardiomyocyte-containing product by patient immune systems ("cloaking"), and include additional safety mechanisms to control unwanted proliferation of graft cells. By using these GMP-grade iPSC lines, the project will deliver off-the-shelf products, which can be implanted in broad patient populations with little to no immunosuppression. UKE applies its proprietary Giga Patch Method for the generation of fully functional heart tissue suitable for cardiac transplantation. Further in vivo validation and development activities will be shared jointly between the partners. Evotec will be responsible for GMP and pre-clinical activities as well as for any subsequent partnering of the programme.

Dr Cord Dohrmann, Chief Scientific Officer of Evotec, commented: "We are very excited about this collaboration with the UKE. Both Evotec and UKE have developed and refined their respective technology platforms over a number of years and have now decided to jointly drive this cardiac cell therapy programme towards clinical development. We are confident that this partnership will deliver a new therapeutic option for patients who suffer from heart failure."

Prof. Dr Thomas Eschenhagen, Director of the Institute of Experimental Pharmacology and Toxicology at UKE, added: "We are excited about the new opportunities the partnership with Evotec will create. After having worked on means to repair injured heart by 3-dimensional heart muscle patches for over two decades, joining forces with Evotec and its industrialized hiPSC platform and new cell lines, will bring this development to a new stage. We are aiming at the most efficient and safest therapy in the field."

"We are very happy to see a scientific success story advance to a feat of technology transfer. Translation of scientific insights into therapeutic options is a key mission of our University Medical Center", says Prof. Dr Blanche Schwappach-Pignataro, the Dean of Faculty of Medicine of the UKE.

No financial terms of the agreement were disclosed.

About heart failure Heart failure is a severe global health burden with more than 26 million people suffering with the condition worldwide, disproportionately affecting elderly people. While there are options to treat heart failure both medicinally and with devices, there is currently no treatment that targets the cause of the disease or significantly slows down its progression.

About Evotec and iPSC Induced pluripotent stem cells (also known as iPS cells or iPSCs) are a type of pluripotent stem cell that can be generated directly from adult cells. Pluripotent stem cells hold great promise in the field of regenerative medicine. Because they can propagate indefinitely, as well as give rise to every other cell type in the body (such as neurons, heart, pancreatic and liver cells), they represent a single source of cells that could be used to replace those lost to damage or disease.

Evotec has built an industrialised iPSC infrastructure that represents one of the largest and most sophisticated iPSC platforms in the industry. Evotec's iPSC platform has been developed over the last years with the goal to industrialise iPSC-based drug screening in terms of throughput, reproducibility and robustness to reach the highest industrial standards, and to use iPSC-based cells in cell therapy approaches via the Company's proprietary EVOcells platform.

ABOUT THE MEDICAL CENTER HAMBURG-EPPENDORF (UKE) Since its foundation in 1889, the Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE) has been one of the leading clinics in Europe. With about 13,600 employees, the UKE is one of the largest employers in Hamburg. Each year, the UKE treats around 511,000 patients, 106,000 of whom are inpatients and 405,000 outpatients. The emphasis in UKE's research are the neurosciences, cardiovascular research, care research, oncology, as well as infections and inflammations. Other potential areas of the UKE are molecular imaging and skeletal biology research. The UKE trains about 3,400 medical specialists and dentists. Knowledge, Research, Healing through Shared Competence: The UKE | http://www.uke.de

ABOUT EVOTEC SE Evotec is a drug discovery alliance and development partnership company focused on rapidly progressing innovative product approaches with leading pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, academics, patient advocacy groups and venture capitalists. We operate worldwide and our more than 3,500 employees provide the highest quality stand-alone and integrated drug discovery and development solutions. We cover all activities from target-to-clinic to meet the industry's need for innovation and efficiency in drug discovery and development (EVT Execute). The Company has established a unique position by assembling top-class scientific experts and integrating state-of-the-art technologies as well as substantial experience and expertise in key therapeutic areas including neuronal diseases, diabetes and complications of diabetes, pain and inflammation, oncology, infectious diseases, respiratory diseases, fibrosis, rare diseases and women's health. On this basis, Evotec has built a broad and deep pipeline of more than 100 co-owned product opportunities at clinical, pre-clinical and discovery stages (EVT Innovate). Evotec has established multiple long-term alliances with partners including Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Bristol Myers Squibb, CHDI, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Pfizer, Sanofi, Takeda, UCB and others. For additional information please go to http://www.evotec.com and follow us on Twitter @Evotec.

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS Information set forth in this press release contains forward-looking statements, which involve a number of risks and uncertainties. The forward-looking statements contained herein represent the judgement of Evotec as of the date of this press release. Such forward-looking statements are neither promises nor guarantees, but are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond our control, and which could cause actual results to differ materially from those contemplated in these forward-looking statements. We expressly disclaim any obligation or undertaking to release publicly any updates or revisions to any such statements to reflect any change in our expectations or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any such statement is based.

Media Contact Evotec SE: Gabriele Hansen, SVP Head of Global Corporate Communications & Marketing, Phone: +49.(0)40.56081-255, gabriele.hansen@evotec.com

IR Contact Evotec SE: Volker Braun, SVP Head of Global Investor Relations & ESG, Phone: +49.(0)40.56081-775, volker.braun@evotec.com

04.02.2021 Dissemination of a Corporate News, transmitted by DGAP - a service of EQS Group AG. The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.

The DGAP Distribution Services include Regulatory Announcements, Financial/Corporate News and Press Releases. Archive at http://www.dgap.de

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Evotec and Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf Enter Partnership to Develop iPSC-Based Tissue Therapy f - PharmiWeb.com

Breakthrough stem cell therapy may reverse life-threatening conditions in dogs – Study Finds

SAKAI, Japan Just like humans, mans best friend deals with all sorts of chronic and degenerative conditions as they age. For dogs however, scientists have fewer ways of reversing life-threatening illnesses compared to human patients. Now, a team in Japan has successfully developed a technique which creates new stem cells from a dogs blood. Their study opens the door for new therapies which can regenerate a dogs body just like stem cells do in people.

In humans, these baby cells have the potential to grow into a variety of specialized cells, an ability called pluripotency. After scientists transplant these stem cells into a patient, they guide their differentiation into the specific kind of cells which completes their task. The new cells can then regenerate damaged tissues, reversing the effect of various diseases. While stem cell research for humans is a widely studied topic, researchers say little work is done with pets.

The new study, led by Associate Professor Shingo Hatoya from Osaka Prefecture University, focuses on induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) in canine blood samples. Study authors say iPSCs are a type of stem cell which can be programmed from a developed cell. Scientists can do this by introducing specific genes into the cell. The genes code for specific proteins (transcription factors) which trigger the change from a developed cell into a pluripotent stem cell.

Another good thing about iPSCs is they multiply rapidly, providing a sustainable supply of usable stem cells for medical treatments.

We successfully established an efficient and easy generation method of canine iPSCs from peripheral blood mononuclear cells Dr. Hatoya in a university release.

The study authors call this a breakthrough in veterinary science. Hatoya hopes in the near future, it may be possible to perform regenerative medicinal treatments in dogs.

This isnt the first time scientists have experimented with iPSCs from canine blood cells. Researchers say these attempts used viral vectors to deliver the stem cell-triggering transcription factors.

In the new study, the Japanese team tested a different combination of factors to create pluripotency. Most importantly, researchers say they had to control how the reprogrammed cells multiplied in the host.

Scientists use viral vectors, which encode these transcription factors, to infect cells and convert them into iPSCs. Unfortunately, since these vectors merge with the hosts genetic material, these pluripotency factors can actually cause tumors if they are transplanted into a dog.

To avoid this, researchers created footprint-free stem cells using a special type of viral vector. This particular vector generates iPSCs without mixing with the hosts genes. It can also be automatically silenced by microRNAs in the cells. The OPU team grew these cells in a special environment which contained a small-molecule cocktail that enhances pluripotency. The results successfully produced cells which developed germ layers the basis of all organs.

Study authors say their findings provide a clear path to easy stem cell treatments for dogs. However, they add that their research may also have a ripple effect in the human medical world as well.

We believe that our method can facilitate the research involving disease modeling and regenerative therapies in the veterinary field, Dr. Hatoya says. Dogs share the same environment as humans and spontaneously develop the same diseases, particularly genetic diseases.

The team believes finding a cure for diseases in mans best friend may also open the door to curing illnesses still plaguing mankind.

The study appears in the journal Stem Cells and Development.

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SLAS Technology Special Collection on Artificial Intelligence in Process Automation Available Now – Newswise

Newswise Oak Brook, IL The February edition of SLAS Technology is a special collection of articles focused on Artificial Intelligence in Process Automation by Guest Editor Cenk ndey, Ph.D. (Amgen, Thousand Oaks, CA, USA).

This SLAS Technology special collection targets the use of artificial intelligence (AI) techniques and technologies as applied specifically to drug discovery, automated gene editing and machine learning. As AI becomes increasingly more prevalent in research, medicine and even everyday life, laboratory automation has gone beyond hardware advancements toward new levels of precision and complexity. Beyond research, AI serves as a powerful tool for clinicians diagnosing and treating patients in a medical setting. The AI advancements presented in this issue highlight the wide spectrum of medical AI breakthroughs.

This months issue of SLAS Technology also celebrates the top 10 most-cited articles within the journals history. Over the past decade, the publications priority has been to provide a platform for researchers to share technological advancements as well as a resource to continually share the impact of technology on life sciences and biomedical research.

The February issue of SLAS Discovery includes nine articles of original research in addition to the cover article.

Articles of Original Research include:

Other articles include:

Access to Februarys SLAS Technology issue is available at http://journals.sagepub.com/toc/jlad/26/1.

For more information about SLAS and its journals, visitwww.slas.org/journals. Access a behind the scenes look at the latest issue with SLAS Technology Authors Talk Tech podcast. Tune into Februarys episode by visiting https://slastechnology.buzzsprout.com/.

*****

SLAS (Society for Laboratory Automation and Screening) is an international professional society of academic, industry and government life sciences researchers and the developers and providers of laboratory automation technology. The SLAS mission is to bring together researchers in academia, industry and government to advance life sciences discovery and technology via education, knowledge exchange and global community building.

SLAS Discovery: Advancing the Science of Drug Discovery, 2019 Impact Factor 2.195. Editor-in-Chief Robert M. Campbell, Ph.D., Twentyeight-Seven Therapeutics, Boston, MA (USA).

SLAS Technology: Translating Life Sciences Innovation, 2019 Impact Factor 2.174. Editor-in-Chief Edward Kai-Hua Chow, Ph.D., National University of Singapore (Singapore).

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Exacis Biotherapeutics Announces Key Addition To Its Executive Leadership Team With Dirk Huebner MD Joining As Chief Medical Officer – PRNewswire

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Jan. 29, 2021 /PRNewswire/ --Exacis Biotherapeutics, Inc., a development-stageimmuno-oncology company working to harness the immune system to cure cancer,today announcedthe addition of Dirk Huebner,MD,as its Chief Medical Officer. Exacis launched in 2020 to develop next generation mRNA-based cellular therapeutics to treat liquid and solid tumors.

Exacis CEO Gregory Fiore MD said, "Dirk is a wonderful addition and a great fit for our management team. His extensive experience in oncology drug development, including antibody related therapies will be instrumental as we build our pipeline to include high performance stealth edited NK and T cells, with and without CARs (ExaNK, ExaCAR-NK and ExaCAR-T). We look forward to Dirk's insights and medical leadership as we build the company and advance our portfolio."

Dr. Huebner joins Exacis from Mersana Therapeutics where he wasthe Chief Medical Officer,oversaw their clinical developmentand helped build thecompany'sclinical infrastructure. Dr Huebnerhas worked in oncology and immuno-oncology drug development and academiafor more than 25 yearsand brings a deep understanding of the needs in the oncology space as well as the ability to successfully deliverproducts to meet those needs.

Commenting on the new role, Dr. Huebner said, "I am thrilled to join the Exacis team and work with best-in-class technology to create innovative, next-generation engineered NK and T cell therapies that have the potential to improve outcomes and treatment experiences for patients with challenging hematologic and solid tumor malignancies."

About Exacis Biotherapeutics

Exacis is a development stageimmuno-oncologycompany focused on harnessing the human immune system to cure cancer. Exacis uses its proprietary mRNA-based technologies to engineer next generation off-the-shelf NK and T cell therapies aimed at liquid and solid tumors.Exacis was founded in 2020 with an exclusive license to a broad suite of patents covering the use ofmRNA-based cell reprogramming and gene editing technologiesfor oncology.

ExaNK, ExaCAR-NK and ExaCAR-T utilize mRNA cell reprogramming and mRNA gene editing technologies developed and owned by Factor Bioscience. Exacis has an exclusive license to the Factor Bioscience technology for engineered NK and T cell products derived from iPSCs for use in oncology and holds all global development and commercial rights for these investigational candidates.

About T and Natural Killer (NK) Cell Therapies

T and NK cells are types of human immune cells that are ableto recognize and destroy cancer cells and can be modified through genetic engineering to target specific tumors.

SOURCE Exacis Biotherapeutics, Inc.

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Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells Market 2020 Global Share, Growth, Size, Opportunities, Trends, Regional Overview, Leading Company Analysis And Forecast…

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Some of the prominent companies that are covered in this report:

Fujifilm Holding Corporation Astellas Pharma Fate Therapeutics Bristol-Myers Squibb Company ViaCyte Celgene Corporation Aastrom Biosciences Acelity Holdings StemCells Japan Tissue Engineering Organogenesis

*Note: Additional companies can be included on request

The industry seems to be evenly competitive. To analyze any market with simplicity the market is divided into segments, such as its product type, application, technology, end-user, etc. Segmenting the market into smaller components makes it easier in understanding the dynamics of the market with more transparency. Data is depicted with the help of tables and figures that consist of a graphical representation of the numbers in the form of histograms, bar graphs, pie charts, etc. Another major component that is integrated with the report is the regional analysis to assess the global presence of the Induced Pluripotent Stem Cellsmarket.

Following is the gist of segmentation:

By Applications:

Academic Research Drug Development And Discovery Toxicity Screening Regenerative Medicine

By Types:

Hepatocytes Fibroblasts Keratinocytes Amniotic Cells Others

By Regions:

North America: U.S. and Canada

Asia Pacific: India, China, Japan, and Rest of Asia Pacific

Europe: Germany, France, Italy, the UK, and Rest of Europe

Latin America: Brazil, Cuba, Argentina, and Rest of Latin America

Middle East & Africa: South Africa, Saudi Arabia, and Rest of Middle East & Africa

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Money on the Move: January 27 February 2 – BioSpace

The groundhog saw his shadow, meaning six more weeks of winter. But there's no freezing of funds in the biopharma world. Here's a recap of where life sciencescash has been flowing the past week.

Sana Biotechnology

Initially filing for a$150 million IPO, Seattle-based Sanaamendedto amassivegoal of$323 million,offering 15 million shares at $20 to $23 per share.Although the company is still at a preclinical stage,this IPOwould value the company at a price of nearly $4.5 billion.Prime focuses of startup company Sana Biotechnology include the development ofin vivoandex vivocell engineering platformslicensedfrom Harvard University to discover novel treatments across several therapeutic areas that currently have unmet treatment needs. Therapeutic areas of particular interest to the company include oncology, diabetes, central nervous system (CNS) disorders, cardiovascular diseases and genetic disorders. IND applications are anticipated in 2022 and 2023. Last summer Sana raised$700 million ininitial financing.

Design Therapeutics

Launched last Marchwith $45 million to create a new class of disease-modifying therapies,Design Therapeutics secured another$125 million this week in a Series B.In the short time since our launch, Design Therapeutics has made significant progress in the advancement of our novelGeneTACplatform focused on addressing the underlying causes of serious degenerative diseases, said Joo Siffert, M.D., president and chief executive officer of Design Therapeutics. This capital raise provides important resources to efficiently advance our pipeline, including our lead programs in Friedreich ataxia and myotonic dystrophy type-1. Proceeds will be used to advance theGeneTACplatform to develop a pipeline ofGeneTACmolecules with an initial focus on nucleotide repeat expansion disorders, including Friedreich ataxia. Design hopes to be in the clinic by the first half of 2022.

Nuvalent

Launching with a$50 million Series A,Nuvalentistackling the most common type of lung cancer NSCLC. The funds raised will fuelNuvalentsR&D efforts towardbuildinga portfolioof innovative small molecule kinase inhibitors for programs in NSCLC. Therapeuticagents include a potential best-in-class ROS1-selective inhibitor, NUV-520, and an ALK-selective inhibitor, NUV-655.The companys first lead program involving NUV-520 will examine the molecules efficacy in treating advanced NSCLC, particularly cases that have developed resistance to treatment, driven by a ROS1 fusion. The first Phase I/II trial investigating the potential therapy in NSCLC is expected for the second half of this year. Another program targeting NSCLC tumors driven by an ALK fusion is anticipated in 2022.

Ukko

On a mission to eliminate food allergies and sensitivities, a massive needs market, Ukko scooped up$40 million in a Series B round.Using an AI-driven protein engineering platform, the company isdevelopinga promising investigational therapy for peanut allergies.Ukko is also working on an improved gluten for people with Celiac disease and other gluten sensitivities to be able to enjoy.Data on both of these programs suggest these do not trigger allergic responses in the immune systems of patients. The new fundingwilltake Ukko to clinical trial with its peanut allergy therapeutic.Pharma-giantBayer was aleadinvestor in the round.

Cellino

Artificial intelligence is impacting the future of every industry, and the life sciences industry is no different. Using image-guided machine learning AI, Cambridge-based Cellinois guiding automated cell reprogramming, expansion and differentiation. Launchedin 2017, the company just completed a$16 million seed roundtoenable its induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) engineering platform, powered by artificial intelligence.Autologous iPSCs cells taken from a patient, engineered for therapeutic benefit and returned to the patient have been in clinical testing since 2014, but none have reached regulatory approval.Cellinos platform will allow it to precisely steer iPSCs to a target tissue state.

Endogena

Discovering and developing regenerative medicines from within,Endogenabrought in$8 millionin a Series A financing round last week.Focused on novel treatments for neurodegenerative diseases, the funds will help its lead program aimed at retinitis pigmentosa to establish clinical proof-of-concept.EndogenasAI-driven platform is a combination of stem cell research and small molecule drug discovery. The company also hopes to advance its age-related macular degeneration program to an IND.

AffyXell

Established last January to develop novel mesenchymal stem cell therapies,AffyXellclosed aSeries A for $7.3 millionto develop its pipeline of next-gen cell and gene therapies.The biotech combines Avacta TherapeuticssAffimerplatform withDaewoongPharmaceuticals MSC platform to genetically modify stem cells tosecreteAffimerproteins that enhance the therapeutic effectsof the MSC. Funds from the series will be used for further development oftherapies that will suppress immune response and restore balance for inflammatory and autoimmune diseases.

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