Evotec partners with Mark Foundation for Cancer Research

During the next two years, the partners will use Evotec’s proprietary new drug discovery platform TargetAlloMod to screen or validate small molecule drugs that block signalling from novel or validated immune checkpoints of immunooncological targets. TargetAlloMod is designed to find small molecule drugs that specifically knock-out receptor activity, a task usually carried out by therapeutic antibodies. If small molecules bind allosterically to certain receptors they induce a proteolytic cleavage to shed the ectodomain resulting in disruption of signalling. According to Evotec, the shed ectodomain can, in many cases, further act as a sink for the native ligand of the targeted receptor thus switching off signals send our from tumours in order to circumvent or block a cancer-specific immune response.

Under the terms of the agreement, The Mark Foundation, which is dedicated to translational oncology, will provide research funding to Evotec. Evotec will be responsible for partnering of the programmes and/or the platform. The Mark Foundation will reinvest potential financial returns to expand its grant portfolio.

No financial details of the collaboration were disclosed.