Skip to main content
Premium Trial:

Request an Annual Quote

Evotec Acquires iPSC Drug-Discovery Assets From Ncardia

NEW YORK – Evotec said today that it has acquired certain assets from Ncardia related to the use of induced pluripotent stem cells for drug discovery.

The assets include intellectual property relevant to iPSC-based phenotypic drug discovery and an existing undisclosed product business around iPSC-derived cells. Evotec said it is also taking on 17 stem cell biology experts operating out of laboratories at the BioCampus Cologne in Germany.

The Cologne-based team's expertise is in generating multiple disease-relevant cell types from iPSCs and applying them in drug discovery. Evotec said that combining this with its own iPSC expertise and drug-discovery platforms will create new biological research opportunities and enhance new and existing partnerships.

"Additional expertise and capacity in the iPSC space as well as a substantial partner network will allow us to further accelerate our efforts to build a world-leading iPSC translational biology platform across different disease areas," Evotec CSO Cord Dohrmann said in a statement.

Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.

The Scan

Positive Framing of Genetic Studies Can Spark Mistrust Among Underrepresented Groups

Researchers in Human Genetics and Genomics Advances report that how researchers describe genomic studies may alienate potential participants.

Small Study of Gene Editing to Treat Sickle Cell Disease

In a Novartis-sponsored study in the New England Journal of Medicine, researchers found that a CRISPR-Cas9-based treatment targeting promoters of genes encoding fetal hemoglobin could reduce disease symptoms.

Gut Microbiome Changes Appear in Infants Before They Develop Eczema, Study Finds

Researchers report in mSystems that infants experienced an enrichment in Clostridium sensu stricto 1 and Finegoldia and a depletion of Bacteroides before developing eczema.

Acute Myeloid Leukemia Treatment Specificity Enhanced With Stem Cell Editing

A study in Nature suggests epitope editing in donor stem cells prior to bone marrow transplants can stave off toxicity when targeting acute myeloid leukemia with immunotherapy.