EVO - Evotec stock rises on licensing deal with J&J to develop immune-based drugs

• Evotec ( NASDAQ: EVO ) and Johnson & Johnson ( NYSE: JNJ ) signed a collaboration and license agreement to develop first-in-class targeted immune-based therapies for cancer.
• J&J's unit Janssen Biotech entered the collaboration with Germany's Evotec and Janssen will ultimately be commercialized by Janssen.
• The collaboration will use Evotec's development capabilities and manufacturing processes, including an option for the GMP manufacture of the immune-based therapies.
• Evotec will work with Janssen during the pre-clinical R&D phase while Janssen will assume full responsibility for the clinical development and commercialization.
• Besides research funding, Evotec is entitled to an undisclosed upfront payment, success-based research and commercial milestones exceeding US$350M plus royalties.
• "Novel immune-based therapies with disease-relevant, targeted mechanisms are expected to benefit large number of patients," said Evotec Chief Scientific Officer Cord Dohrmann.
• EVO +6.65% to $10.26 premarket Jan. 26

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