Evotec to cut jobs and reduce costs following business review
Evotec, a German leader in the discovery and development of novel small molecule drugs, is to restructure and significantly reduce its operating costs following a strategic business review.
Evotec, a German leader in the discovery and development of novel small molecule drugs, is to restructure and significantly reduce its operating costs following a strategic business review.
The company will cut 50 jobs as part of the restructure, which will bring its workforce to 370. The redundancies will take place across the entire organisation in the US, UK and Germany.
Evotec will also reduce its spending on r&d by more than 30% and its SG&A expenses by more than 10%. This means a cost reduction of more than Euro 14m over 2008. The impact of the restructuring is expected to be approximately €2m in 2009.
Dr Werner Lanthaler, chief executive of Evotec, said the firm would invest and expand its discovery alliance business and invest in new research projects that address major unmet medical needs.
The company intends to enter into strategic alliances with pharma partners and expand its indication focus to neuroscience, pain and inflammation. The development alliance with Roche signed last month is an example such a partnership.
Evotec is confident that it can fund its currently planned business operations comfortably for more than three years, reach important milestones within its development programmes, and advance and enhance its drugs pipeline.
The company's current core pipeline programmes consist of EVT 302 for smoking cessation, currently in a Phase II proof-of-concept trial; EVT 101 for use in treatment resistant depression, entering a proof-of-concept Phase II trial in partnership with Roche for which the companies expect to announce data in late 2010/2011; a P2X7 antagonist for rheumatoid arthritis, currently in Phase I studies; and H3 and P2X3 antagonist programmes, which are expected to start Phase I studies in 2010.