French multinational pharmaceutical company Sanofi and drug discovery and development company from Germany Evotec said they had started exclusive talks over accelerating research into the treatment of infectious diseases, and added on Thursday that they would form a new open innovation platform in this area, led by Evotec.
Sanofi will license its research into infectious diseases and its early-stage development portfolio, and the French group will also transfer its research unit dealing with this area over to Evotec, reports Reuters.
Sanofi will pay Evotec an initial one-time cash upfront payment of 60 million euros ($74.4 million) and provide further significant long-term funding to develop portfolio, the companies added.