Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center is the third institution to gain an academic bridge program in collaboration with Evotec, with the latest instalment dubbed Lab591.

Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center became the third institution today to form a partnership with drug discovery company Evotec by launching Lab591. The program is also being supported by investment firm Arix Biosciences. Lab591 will work towards accelerating the commercialisation of cancer and infectious disease drugs. Evotec will work with faculty to conduct initial research that will be seed funded by Arix. If the project proves successful, Evotec and Arix will launch a spinout. Lab591 has been named in honour of Fred Hutchinson, a major league baseball pitcher who threw 591 strikeouts before dying of cancer at the age of 45 in 1964. Hutchinson’s death led his brother William to establishing the research institute the following year. Evotec previously collaborated with University of Oxford and its tech transfer office Oxford University Innovation to launch Lab282 in 2016. Lab282 attracted $16m in funding led by university venture fund Oxford Sciences Innovation. In September 2017, commercialisation firm Mars Innovation then partnered Evotec to establish Lab150 to drive research translation for projects emerging from its 15 Torontonian member universities and research institutes. Werner Lanthaler, president and CEO of Evotec, and Rafi Hofstein, president and CEO of Mars Innovation, previously also wrote a guest comment for Global University Venturing providing further insight into the initiative. Hilary Hehman, director of partnerships and alliances at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, said: “This partnership is an example of Fred Hutch’s commitment to establishing high-impact strategic partnerships that accelerate the translation of Fred Hutch’s scientific innovation into treatments that ultimately benefit patients. “We believe this partnership will advance our mission to cure cancer, and we look forward to working closely with Evotec and Arix over the next five years.”

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