Evotec SE announced that its translational drug discovery accelerator with Novo Nordisk, LAB eN², which aims to nurture early research from academic institutions into novel therapeutics, has selected its first three projects to move forward in the program from Boston University, Harvard University in collaboration with Mass General Brigham, and Joslin Diabetes Center. LAB eN² is also expanding to include five additional academic institutions: Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston University, Johns Hopkins University, Joslin Diabetes Center, and the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.

“We are thrilled to be able to start work on these first projects, leveraging Evotec’s integrated drug discovery and translational platforms and Novo Nordisk’s deep disease understanding,” said Dr Thomas Hanke, EVP & Head of Academic Partnerships at Evotec. “We are confident that LAB eN² will accelerate promising and innovative therapeutic concepts from bench to bedside in disease areas with significant unmet need. With Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston University, Johns Hopkins University, Joslin Diabetes Center, and Icahn Mount Sinai, we welcome five additional stellar academic institutions to LAB eN². Together with our partner Novo Nordisk, this translational drug discovery accelerator provides an ideal breeding ground to take leading-edge academic science from concept to drug candidate.”

The first three selected projects will focus on driving forward research for different cardiometabolic conditions. The Boston University project, spearheaded by Drs. Victoria Herrera and Nelson Ruiz-Opazo and their collaborators Drs. Sushrut Waikar and Joel Henderson, will leverage unique insights into the role of inflammation within cardiometabolic diseases to discover pharmacological interventions, with a primary focus on chronic kidney disease (CKD) to start, and secondary focus on obesity. The research project led by Dr. Sloan Devlin at Harvard Medical School, in collaboration with Dr. Eric Sheu at Mass General Brigham, will characterize potential modulators of metabolic disease by investigating molecular mechanisms related to bariatric surgery. In the long term, the team aims to develop novel therapeutic candidates for the potential treatment of metabolic syndrome, including insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes. The Joslin Diabetes Center project, led by Dr. Peng Yi, Investigator at Joslin Diabetes Center and Assistant Professor of Harvard Medical School, will focus on type 1 diabetes, with a novel target approach aimed at modulating autoimmune response. The selected projects are initially funded with a Discovery Award to reach key pre-clinical value-inflection points. After reaching key pre-clinical milestones projects can be considered for additional funding up to the IND application stage and Novo Nordisk has the option to further develop and license specific programs.

“We have been so impressed by the scientific ideas that have been uncovered through this program and our ongoing collaboration with our academic partners,” said Uli Stilz, Head of Novo Nordisk’s Bio Innovation Hub. “The first selected projects offer novel approaches to address chronic cardiometabolic conditions, and we look forward to working with the primary investigators to advance their research. We launched LAB eN² with the intention to help bridge the translational research gap – we’ve been pleased with the progress so far and with the addition of five institutions, we have the opportunity to further our ability to drive more scientific ideas forward.”

Evotec and Novo Nordisk launched LAB eN² in September 2023 together with four academic institutions, Harvard University, Mass General Brigham, Yale School of Medicine, and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. Under the expansion, researchers from Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston University, Johns Hopkins University, Joslin Diabetes Center, and Icahn Mount Sinai can now also apply to LAB eN² with their projects. Leveraging access to Evotec’s integrated R&D platform and Novo Nordisk’s deep disease understanding, LAB eN² provides funding to design a drug discovery program and identify a therapeutic candidate across a range of therapeutic modalities.