CHDI Foundation, a privately-funded not-for-profit research organization dedicated to developing therapies for Huntington's disease, has extended its collaboration with Evotec, a drug discovery alliance and development partnership company based in Germany, until the end of 2015. The contract extension could be worth up to $41 million in research payments for Evotec.

The collaboration takes full advantage of Evotec's integrated drug discovery platform and its proficiency in neurological research, including its expertise in medicinal chemistry, compound management, in vitro and in vivo pharmacology. Evotec and CHDI entered into this alliance in March 2006, and since then the collaborative relationship has grown significantly. The extension of this collaboration further validates Evotec's broad expertise in CNS drug discovery and development.

“We are delighted that CHDI, an organization dedicated solely to the quest to discover novel drugs against Huntington's disease, continues to work in partnership with Evotec,” said Dr. Mario Polywka, COO of Evotec. 'This collaboration is an excellent example of how companies, including foundations such as CHDI, can access Evotec's platform suite of technologies, capabilities and strong disease biology expertise, to drive their drug discovery efforts.'

Dr. Robert Pacifici, CSO of CHDI, said, “Evotec represents one of our largest and longest standing relationships with a contract research organization. We are delighted that, with the renewal of our contract, CHDI and Evotec will be able to continue our productive interactions and drive our therapeutic programs forward.”