German drugmaker Evotec has acquired Neuro3d of France in a stock deal which the firm says gives it access to “proprietary assays and know-how about a target that has potential for the treatment of a number of diseases of the central nervous system.”
The deal also gives Evotec ”a related focused compound library” as well as up to 22 million euros, of which some 18 million euros are included in Neuro3d’s balance sheet already, and the remainder is expected to be received by the beginning of 2009. The agreement involves the German firm issuing around six million new ordinary shares and it was noted that the French biotechnology firm’s Mulhouse site will not be maintained.
The announcement came as Evotec announced a 5% rise in revenues for 2006 to 64.3 million euros, due mainly to strong performances from its manufacturing and formulation services and milestone payments received from Japan’s Takeda and fellow German firm Boehringer Ingelheim. Net loss climbed 16.3% to 36.8 million euros and the firm finished the year with cash and equivalents of 78.7 million euros, thanks to the divestment of Evotec Technologies sold to the USA’s PerkinElmer for 23 million euros. Chief executive Jorn Aldag said that one of the most significant highlights of 2006 was “the progress of our insomnia drug candidate EVT 201” for which Phase II data will be reported this year.
