LONDON, May 31, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

• Announces formation of LAB591, an academic "BRIDGE" collaboration focused on creating and supporting new companies in oncology and infectious diseases  
• Collaboration combines Arix's business building expertise with one of the world's premier cancer research centres and Evotec's drug discovery expertise  
• Further enhances Arix's broad deal-sourcing capabilities 

Arix Bioscience plc ("Arix", London Stock Exchange: ARIX) a global healthcare and life science company supporting medical innovation, today announced the formation of the LAB591, an academic "BRIDGE" collaboration with the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center ("Fred Hutch") and Evotec AG ("Evotec", Frankfurt Stock Exchange: EVT).

LAB591 aims to accelerate research discoveries at Fred Hutch and leverage these discoveries to form new companies focused on cancer and infectious disease drug development. Arix, Evotec and Fred Hutch plan to jointly select promising LAB591 research projects from the Fred Hutch labs. After developing a research validation plan, Evotec will conduct research in collaboration with the Fred Hutch faculty which will be seed funded by Arix. Once completed, and subject to the results, Arix and Evotec have a pre-agreed option to form a new company, in which both parties will have an equity interest.

Jonathan Peacock, Chairman of Arix Bioscience, said: "We are excited to be combining forces with one of the world's premier cancer research centres and amplifying this with Evotec's drug discovery engine. This new strategic collaboration provides us with an excellent platform to identify new opportunities and build companies with validated, novel scientific approaches, focused on therapeutic breakthroughs for patients suffering from cancer and infectious diseases."

Dr Werner Lanthaler, Chief Executive Officer of Evotec, remarked: "We are excited to work with Fred Hutch, a partner with top-class science and significant experience in cancer and infectious disease research, and together with Arix' extensive experience we aim to identify new opportunities and build companies to discover much needed cures. This BRIDGE demonstrates Evotec's strong and long-lasting commitment to collaboration and innovation and we are convinced that we are meeting the needs of universities and commercial partners and are filling a crucial gap with this model."

Hilary Hehman, Fred Hutch director of partnerships and alliances, added: "This partnership is an example of Fred Hutch's commitment to establishing high- impact strategic partnerships that accelerate the translation of Fred Hutch's scientific innovation into treatments that ultimately benefit patients. We believe this partnership will advance our mission to cure cancer, and we look forward to working closely with Evotec and Arix over the next five years."

The name of the BRIDGE "LAB591" is in honourable memory of the brother of Dr William Hutchinson who founded Fred Hutch. His brother, Fred Hutchinson, died of cancer at an early age in the midst of his professional baseball career. Fred was a major-league pitcher who threw 591 strikeouts during the course of his career and the partners chose "LAB591" as a tribute to his legacy.

About Arix Bioscience plc 

Arix Bioscience plc is a global healthcare and life science company supporting medical innovation. Headquartered in London and with an office in New York, Arix Bioscience sources, finances and builds world class healthcare and life science businesses addressing medical innovation at all stages of development. Operations are supported by privileged access to breakthrough academic science and strategic relationships with leading research accelerators and global pharmaceutical companies.

Arix Bioscience plc is listed on the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange.

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, academics, patient advocacy groups and venture capitalists. We operate worldwide providing the highest quality stand-alone and integrated drug discovery solutions, covering all activities from target-to-clinic to meet the industry's need for innovation and efficiency in drug discovery (EVT Execute). 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, diabetes and complications of diabetes, pain and inflammation, oncology and infectious diseases. On this basis, Evotec has built a broad and deep pipeline of more than 80 partnered product opportunities at clinical, pre-clinical and discovery stages (EVT Innovate). Evotec has established multiple long-term discovery alliances with partners including Bayer, CHDI, Sanofi or UCB and development partnerships with e.g. with Sanofi in the field of diabetes, with Pfizer in the field of tissue fibrosis and Celgene in the field of neurodegenerative diseases. For additional information please go to http://www.evotec.com

About Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center 

At Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, home to three Nobel laureates, interdisciplinary teams of world-renowned scientists seek new and innovative ways to prevent, diagnose and treat cancer, HIV/AIDS and other life-threatening diseases. Fred Hutch's pioneering work in bone marrow transplantation led to the development of immunotherapy, which harnesses the power of the immune system to treat cancer. An independent, nonprofit research institute based in Seattle, Fred Hutch houses the nation's first National Cancer Institute-funded cancer prevention research program, as well as the clinical coordinating center of the Women's Health Initiative and the international headquarters of the HIV Vaccine Trials Network.

Enquiries
For more information on Arix, please contact:
Arix Bioscience plc
Charlotte Parry, Investor Relations Manager
+44(0)20-7290-1072
charlotte@arixbioscience.com  

Burns McClellan
Lisa Burns, John Grimaldi, Bill Slattery Jr.
+1-212-213-0006
arix@burnsmc.com

SOURCE Arix Bioscience plc