Pasithea and Evotec Team Up — Attempt to Make Headway on Brain Disorders

Photo by Karolina Grabowska from Pexels

The following post was written and/or published as a collaboration between Benzinga’s in-house sponsored content team and a financial partner of Benzinga.

Pasithea Therapeutics Corp. KTTA, a biotechnology company focused on the research and discovery of new and effective treatments for psychiatric and neurological disorders, recently announced the start of a new chemical compound development program and named Evotec A.G. EVTCY as its new chemical entity (NCE) research partner.

“We are delighted to be working with Evotec, one of the largest and most well-respected drug discovery and development companies in the world, to progress our first compound. This is a significant step on our drug development path to ultimately develop new molecular entities to improve the lives of those suffering from brain disorders. Pasithea aims to advance small molecule therapeutics with a focus on a specific neuroinflammatory pathway implicated in the neurobiology of depression and schizophrenia,” said Dr. Tiago Reis Marques, Chief Executive Officer of Pasithea Therapeutics.

“Evotec has a proven track record of adding value to its partners’ research by providing innovative and flexible solutions from target compound through to preclinical candidate. This is an important initial step forward for our program, and we believe that Evotec’s high quality science and scientific execution will expedite and increase the chances of progressing our drug candidate to the clinic,” said Professor Lawrence Steinman, Chairman of Pasithea Therapeutics.

“Pasithea is pursuing an exciting approach to target the improvement of mental health,” said Christophe Muller, Global Head of Business Development, Evotec SE. “With our fully integrated suite of the highest quality capabilities, Evotec is uniquely equipped to facilitate the discovery and development of innovative programs to the clinic and beyond. We are delighted to support Pasithea in addressing the very important area of mental health and look forward to working closely with the team to assist them in reaching their goal of tackling brain disorders.”

Who Is Evotech?

Evotec states that its mission is to discover and develop highly effective therapeutics and make them globally available to the patients who need them. It attempts to apply a unique combination of innovative technologies for the discovery and development of first-in-class and best-in-class pharmaceutical products. Its network of partners includes entities in the top-20 big pharma sector — companies like Pfizer Inc. PFE and Merck & Co. MRK — and hundreds of biotechnology companies, academic institutions, and other healthcare stakeholders.

Evotec says that it has strategic activities in a broad range of currently underserved therapeutic areas, including neurology, oncology, and metabolic and infectious diseases. Within these areas of expertise, Evotec aims to create the world-leading co-owned pipeline for innovative therapeutics and make them accessible to patients worldwide. To date, the company has established a portfolio of more than 200 proprietary and co-owned R&D projects from early discovery to clinical development. 

What Makes the Partnership Unique?

Evotec’s strategy is focused on the highest quality science, superior platforms, and highly efficient processes that they hope to lead to significant, long-term productivity improvements in the industry. 

In essence, it aims to assess disease relevance at the molecular level, and therefore the patient-specific level, as early as possible. This approach is expected to yield new insights into the efficacy and safety of a drug candidate early on rather than during advanced clinical trials, which is the current standard. The objective of this method is to engender broader and faster access to more effective, targeted therapies for greater numbers of patients.

Collaborative partnerships in the biotechnology industry are not unheard of, companies like Atai Life Sciences N.V. (ATAI) and Alkermes plc (ALKS) have also used collaborative partnerships to develop their programs.

The preceding post was written and/or published as a collaboration between Benzinga’s in-house sponsored content team and a financial partner of Benzinga. Although the piece is not and should not be construed as editorial content, the sponsored content team works to ensure that any and all information contained within is true and accurate to the best of their knowledge and research. This content is for informational purposes only and not intended to be investing advice.