HAMBURG, Germany, Sept. 18, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Evotec AG (Frankfurt:EVT) (TecDAX) (ISIN:DE0005664809) announced today after careful evaluation that it will take legal steps against Israel-based Andromeda Biotech, Ltd. ("Andromeda") to recover all Evotec claims and potential damages that result from recent incidents in relation to DiaPep277®.
On 08 September 2014, US-based Hyperion Therapeutics, Inc. ("Hyperion") announced that it will discontinue the product development of DiaPep277® for newly diagnosed Type 1 diabetes, because Hyperion affirmed that it uncovered evidence that certain employees of Andromeda in collusion with a third-party biostatistics firm in Israel engaged in serious misconduct with regard to the use of generated data in order to manipulate the analyses to obtain a favourable result of the Phase III trial.
In 2007, DeveloGen AG ("DeveloGen") sold all rights to the drug candidate DiaPep277® to Andromeda, a newly formed wholly owned subsidiary of Clal Biotechnology Industries Ltd. Under the terms of this asset purchase agreement, DeveloGen transferred all rights in DiaPep277® to Andromeda in return for single-digit royalty rates and certain milestones in the single-digit rate upon commercialisation of DiaPep277®.
Evotec, which acquired DeveloGen in 2010, had no involvement in any aspect or decision-making regarding the development of DiaPep277®. Similarly, Evotec's subsidiary DeveloGen, was also not involved in any way in the further development of DiaPep277® after selling it to Andromeda in June 2007, and had absolutely no role in the data generation and analyses. Consequently in light of the recent developments with DiaPep277®, Evotec has decided to take legal steps against Andromeda to recover all Evotec claims and potential damages that result from this recent fraudulent activity.
ABOUT EVOTEC AG
Evotec is a drug discovery alliance and development partnership company focused on rapidly progressing innovative product approaches with leading pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. We operate worldwide providing the highest quality stand-alone and integrated drug discovery solutions, covering all activities from target-to-clinic. 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 neuroscience, pain, metabolic diseases as well as oncology, inflammation and infectious diseases. Evotec has long-term discovery alliances with partners including Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, CHDI, Genentech, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, MedImmune/AstraZeneca, Roche and UCB. In addition, the Company has existing development partnerships and product candidates both in clinical and pre-clinical development. These include partnerships with Boehringer Ingelheim and MedImmune in the field of diabetes, with Janssen Pharmaceuticals in the field of depression and with Roche in the field of Alzheimer's disease. For additional information please go to www.evotec.com.
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.