Evotec Extends Anti-Infectives Footprint With Helmholtz Collaboration
Executive Summary
Building on a leading position in anti-infectives research, Evotec aims to develop a new class of antibacterials based on cystobactamids, which are found in slime bacteria and have potent activity against serious bacterial pathogens.
Nature has long proven to be a great source of novel antibiotics, and the European drug discovery and development company, Evotec AG, is linking up with a leading research institute in Germany, the Helmholtz Center for Infection Research (HZI), to develop cystobactamids, potentially a new class of antibiotics which are found in myxobacteria, or slime bacteria.
This is the latest collaboration by Evotec to feature a major center of academic excellence in infection research: the Hamburg, Germany-based company is already working with Harvard University on discovering small-molecule inhibitors of bacterial cell wall synthesis, under a May 2013 research collaboration. The collaborators are targeting peptidoglycan biosynthesis by bacteria.
And more recently, in the middle of 2018, Evotec completed the acquisition of Sanofi's infectious disease research portfolio, which included a €60m upfront and a five-year financial commitment from the big pharma company, and spotlighted severe bacterial infections, antiviral infections and global health as the therapeutic areas of interest (see sidebar).
Evotec is also working with Forge Therapeutics Inc. to develop a novel potential antibacterial against Gram-negative bacteria.
Found In Soil
Cystobactamids are a family of natural compounds with an innovative chemical scaffold which are active against Gram-negative bacteria. They are found in myxobacteria, or “slime bacteria” which aggregate in moist soil, have fruiting bodies and relatively large genomes, like the Cystobacter sp. Some cystobactamids are inhibitors of bacterial topoisomerases (like fluoroquinolones), the scientific literature suggests, and are active in low µg/ml ranges against clinical isolates of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, fluoroquinolone-resistant Enterobacteriaceae, Klebsiella pneumoniae and Acinetobacter sp.
Evotec and HZI researchers will initially focus on the use of the cystobactamids against Gram-negative infections. In the three-year collaboration, Evotec and HZI will also work on developing cystobactamid derivatives with a broad spectrum of antibacterial activity, including activity against infections that are major global health threats. Financial details were not disclosed, but the collaborators will access HZI’s unique collection of bacteria and its models of bacterial infection and also use Evotec’s medicinal chemistry expertise and the company’s own collection of bacterial pathogens.