News
2nd September, 2005
Evolva Acquires Pharmaceutical Business of Poalis
Evolva SA (Allschwil, Switzerland) and Poalis A/S (Copenhagen, Denmark) announced today that Evolva has acquired the pharmaceutical business and associated assets of Poalis. The activities of Poalis in food and flavour chemicals and in agriculture do not form part of the transaction. Financial terms are not being disclosed.
Evolva will integrate certain Poalis employees into Evolva's existing Danish operations, and take over the running of the Poalis facility at KVL.
Neil Goldsmith, Managing Director of Evolva, said "Poalis has made excellent progress on applying genetic diversity to the analoging and optimisation of compounds to improve pharmacodynamic and pharmacokinetic properties. Further they have developed various technologies for optimising the production of small molecules in yeast. Both of these achievements are highly complementary to Evolva's Watchmaker® technology platform, and so we see this acquisition as a natural strengthening of our technological approach. We also look forward to working with Poalis' existing pharmaceutical partners to create and advance exciting new molecules together."
Tune Marschall, CEO of Poalis said "Evolva is the right kind of company to further develop our technology for the pharmaceutical market. Our technology fits well with their business approach and they have the necessary skill base and market access to succeed. Further the technological synergies and the complementary know how of their scientific staff makes Evolva a very good acquirer of our technology."
About Evolva. Evolva evolves small molecule drugs using massively combinatorial gene libraries that drive chemistry rich pathways. Its Watchmaker® technology platform replicates, on an industrial basis, the ability of nature to evolve molecules with exquisite "design", but with the evolution directly aimed at making functional drugs - HIV blockers, anti-obesity compounds etc. Watchmaker® can create, optimize and manufacture molecules that are outside the scope of the traditional synthetic chemistry approaches of the industry. For further information see www.evolva.com.
About Poalis. Poalis is a biotech company focusing on developing biological production processes for aromas and other high value chemicals. The company is a pioneer in combining plant biotech with microbial production systems. The products and technology are primarily used in the cosmetic and food ingredients industry. The company is situated in Copenhagen and was founded in the fall of 2001 by Professors at the Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University and the Danish Institute for Agricultural Sciences. The major shareholders in the company include Danisco Venture, Carlsberg, The Danish Growth Fund, AgroInvest and Nordic Biotech.
Contact Details
Neil Goldsmithneilg@evolva.com
Tel +41 61 485 2000
Mob: +41 79 54 33 111 Tune Marschall
tune.marschall@poalis.com
Tel: +45 2687 2400
Mob: +45 2687 2424 Evolva SA
Hagmattstrasse 6
CH-4123 Allschwil
Switzerland