Evox to use its proprietary exosome loading and CNS-targeting technologies to develop oligonucleotide drugs for the treatment of neurological disorders
Evox Therapeutics Ltd (‘Evox’ or the ‘Company’), a leading exosome therapeutics company, is pleased to announce a research collaboration and license agreement with Eli Lilly and Company to leverage Evox’s proprietary DeliverEXTM platform to develop and deliver RNA interference (RNAi) & antisense oligonucleotide (ASO) drug payloads for the potential treatment of neurological disorders. During this research collaboration and five-target license agreement, Evox will be responsible for exosome engineering in order to achieve brain/CNS-targeting, drug loading and analytics and some in vitro assay development, as well as material supply for initial in vivo studies. Any resulting candidate handover and technology transfer to Lilly will occur after pre-clinical proof of concept studies have been completed.
Under the terms of the agreement, Evox will receive a $20 million cash up-front payment, research funding over three years, as well as a $10 million investment from Lilly in exchange for a convertible bond from the Company. Evox will also be eligible for potential pre-clinical and clinical development, regulatory and commercial milestones of up to approximately $1.2 billion, as well as tiered royalties up to low double digits on net sales of products arising from the collaboration.
Dr Antonin de Fougerolles, Chief Executive Officer of Evox, commented: “This agreement with Lilly allows us to explore both the potential of our platform to deliver oligonucleotide payloads, a class of drugs of increasing importance, and the suitability of our exosome technology for CNS targeting. This new deal with another major pharmaceutical company highlights the breadth of opportunity that exists with exosome-based drugs.”
“We are pleased to enter into this pre-clinical research and licensing collaboration with Evox, and look forward to studying the potential for their technology to support the development of future medicines for neurological disorders,” said Michael Hutton, Ph.D., Vice President of neurodegeneration research at Lilly.
For enquiries, please contact:
Dr Antonin de Fougerolles, Chief Executive Officer, Evox Therapeutics Ltd +44 (0) 1865 819140
Simon Conway / Natalie Garland-Collins, FTI Consulting +44 (0) 203 727 1000
About Evox Therapeutics
Evox Therapeutics is a privately held, Oxford-based biotechnology company focused on harnessing and engineering the natural delivery capabilities of extracellular vesicles, known as exosomes, to develop an entirely new class of biotherapeutics. Backed by Oxford Sciences Innovation and supported by a comprehensive intellectual property portfolio, Evox’s mission is to positively impact human health by creating novel exosome-based biotherapeutics for the treatment of various severe diseases with limited options for patients and their families. Evox has created substantial proprietary technology to modify exosomes using various molecular engineering, drug loading, and targeting strategies to facilitate targeted drug delivery to organs of interest, including the brain and the central nervous system. Exosome-based drugs have the potential to address some of the limitations of protein, antibody and nucleic acid-based therapies by enabling delivery to cells and tissues that are currently out of reach using other drug delivery technologies, and Evox is leading the development within this emerging therapeutic space.