24. Mai 2023 Senator Dr. Melanie Leonhard visits Evotec

Hamburg’s Senator for Economic Affairs, Dr Melanie Leonhard, visited Evotec's Manfred Eigen Campus to see how the expanded HTS facilities in combination with technologies of the future will be used to accelerate drug discovery. The City of Hamburg supported the expansion with € 4 m from the European Regional Development Fund ("ERDF") under the REACT-EU (Recovery Assistance for Cohesion and the Territories of Europe) programme. The purpose of REACT-EU is crisis relief in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. The grant was approved by IFB Hamburg (Hamburgische Investitions- und Förderbank) in early 2022.

At Evotec’s Headquarters in Hamburg, a new lab building is currently under construction. The 12,000-square-metre building will be used primarily for laboratories for innovative research using human induced pluripotent stem cells (“iPSCs”). These versatile cells provide opportunities for drug screenings in human cellular models. The expansion is expected to be completed in 2024.

Dr Werner Lanthaler, Chief Executive Officer of Evotec, commented: “We were honoured to have been selected by the City of Hamburg and the IFB Hamburg for funding from the ERDF/REACT-EU programme. The expansion of our HTS facilities in Hamburg, which are operational and in use since earlier in 2023, together with our existing ones at Evotec’s second HTS site in Toulouse, allow us to expand our own research as well as cater to even more partners to strengthens Hamburg as an economic and research hub.”

Dr Melanie Leonhard, Senator for Economic Affairs in Hamburg, said: “Not so long ago, we experienced how Covid-19 confronted us globally with huge problems - today, research is being done here on solutions for this and comparable problems of the future. I am deeply impressed by the innovative power with which the Hamburg-based company Evotec is driving research and development at world level. The life sciences sector plays an important role for the economy in the metropolitan region: numerous world market leaders, but also small and medium-sized companies from medical technology, biotech and pharmaceuticals contribute to global health care from here.”

Ralf Sommer, Chief Executive Officer at IFB Hamburg, added: "With the expansion of Evotec's research facilities, the European ERDF/REACT-EU funds will help us to be better prepared for possible future pandemics by accelerating drug development. In addition, thanks to the funding, Hamburg will be further expanded as an innovation location and new highly qualified jobs will be created in the Hanseatic city."