Chinook Therapeutics and Evotec Announce Strategic Collaboration to Discover and Develop Novel Precision Medicines for Chronic Kidney Diseases

• Collaboration will Leverage Access to the NURTuRE Patient Biobank and Evotec’s PanHunter Multi-Omics Platform to Characterize Molecular Drivers, Identify and Validate Novel Targets and Drive Patient Stratification Strategies in Kidney Disease

• Collaboration Will Focus on Polycystic Kidney Disease (PKD), Lupus Nephritis, IgA Nephropathy and Other Primary Glomerular Diseases

VANCOUVER, British Columbia and SEATTLE, March 01, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Chinook Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: KDNY) and Evotec SE today announced a strategic collaboration focused on the discovery and development of novel precision medicine therapies for patients with chronic kidney diseases. Based on Evotec’s proprietary comprehensive molecular datasets from thousands of patients across chronic kidney diseases of multiple underlying etiologies, Chinook and Evotec will jointly identify, characterize and validate novel mechanisms and discover precision medicines for PKD, lupus nephritis, IgA nephropathy and other primary glomerular diseases. The collaboration will also involve further characterization of pathways and patient stratification strategies for programs currently in Chinook’s clinical and preclinical pipeline.

“We are excited to embark on this strategic collaboration with Evotec, the leading drug discovery alliance and development partner in nephrology,” said Andrew King, D.V.M., Ph.D., Head of Renal Discovery and Translational Medicine at Chinook. “Gaining access to the NURTuRE cohort study and other proprietary patient biobanks, along with Evotec’s multi-omics integration platform, will enable us to define the molecular drivers of kidney diseases, identify novel targets for drug development in selected patient sub-populations and continue to build the foundation for our precision medicine approach. With a focus on comprehensive molecular disease classification, combined with prospective clinical outcomes, Chinook has the opportunity to potentially deliver targeted therapies to the right patient populations.”

The National Unified Renal Translational Research Enterprise (NURTuRE) is the first biobank for chronic kidney diseases and nephrotic syndrome (NS), covering England, Scotland and Wales. Biological samples, including plasma, serum, urine, DNA and kidney biopsies, from 3,000 patients with chronic kidney diseases and over 800 patients with NS from 18 NHS Trusts, are being collected and stored under strict standards for academic and industrial research globally. NURTuRE also has the advantage of containing anonymized linked clinical data through the U.K. Renal Registry, which will enable the development of new prognostic and predictive biomarkers. This will potentially allow Chinook and Evotec to identify patients who will benefit from better, earlier diagnosis and individualized new treatments, resulting in improved health outcomes.

The collaboration also leverages Evotec’s proprietary PanOmics platform, which combines enhanced throughput proteomics, high throughput transcriptomics and cell imaging with PanHunter, Evotec’s unique data analysis platform.

“We are glad to enter into a discovery and development partnership with Chinook Therapeutics, a company specializing in overcoming kidney diseases. CKD is a collective term for a variety of diseases that cause a gradual loss of kidney function. The diversity in the underlying causes makes this area especially favorable for data-driven and systematically personalized approaches,” said Cord Dohrmann, Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer of Evotec. “By leveraging our complementary platforms, Evotec and Chinook have the best possible starting position to tackle particular rare forms of CKD with the goal to develop disease-modifying therapeutics for underserved patient populations.”

Under the terms of the agreement, Chinook and Evotec will share drug discovery and preclinical development responsibilities. Chinook will be responsible for clinical development and commercialization of product candidates developed under the collaboration. Evotec will receive an undisclosed upfront payment, research funding, progress-dependent milestone payments and tiered royalties on net sales for targets identified through the collaboration.

About Chinook Therapeutics, Inc.
Chinook Therapeutics, Inc. is a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing precision medicines for kidney diseases. Chinook’s product candidates are being investigated in rare, severe chronic kidney disorders with opportunities for well-defined clinical pathways. Chinook’s lead program is atrasentan, an investigational phase 3 endothelin receptor antagonist for the treatment of IgA nephropathy and other primary glomerular diseases. BION-1301, an investigational anti-APRIL monoclonal antibody, is being evaluated in a phase 1b trial for IgA nephropathy. In addition, Chinook is advancing CHK-336, an investigational oral small molecule LDHA inhibitor for the treatment of primary hyperoxaluria, as well as research programs for other rare, severe chronic kidney diseases, including polycystic kidney disease. Chinook is building its pipeline by leveraging insights in kidney single cell RNA sequencing, human-derived organoids and new translational models, to discover and develop therapeutics with differentiating mechanisms of action against key kidney disease pathways. To learn more, visit www.chinooktx.com.

About Evotec SE
Evotec is a drug discovery alliance and development partnership company focused on rapidly progressing innovative product approaches with leading pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, academics, patient advocacy groups and venture capitalists. Evotec operates worldwide and our more than 3,500 employees provide the highest quality stand-alone and integrated drug discovery and development solutions. Evotec cover all activities from target-to-clinic to meet the industry’s need for innovation and efficiency in drug discovery and development (EVT Execute). The Company has established a unique position by assembling top-class scientific experts and integrating state-of-the-art technologies as well as substantial experience and expertise in key therapeutic areas including neuronal diseases, diabetes and complications of diabetes, pain and inflammation, oncology, infectious diseases, respiratory diseases, fibrosis, rare diseases and women’s health. On this basis, Evotec has built a broad and deep pipeline of more than 100 co-owned product opportunities at clinical, pre-clinical and discovery stages (EVT Innovate). Evotec has established multiple long-term alliances with partners including Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Bristol Myers Squibb, CHDI, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Pfizer, Sanofi, Takeda, UCB and others. For additional information please go to www.evotec.com and follow us on Twitter @Evotec.

Cautionary Note on Forward-Looking Statements
Certain of the statements made in this press release are forward looking, including those relating to Chinook’s business, future operations, advancement of its product candidates and product pipeline, clinical development of its product candidates, including expectations regarding timing of initiation and results of clinical trials. In some cases, you can identify these statements by forward-looking words such as “may,” “will,” “continue,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “could,” “project,” “expect” or the negative or plural of these words or similar expressions. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results and events to differ materially from those anticipated, including, but not limited to, our ability to develop and commercialize our product candidates, including initiation of clinical trials of our existing product candidates or those developed as part of the Evotec collaboration, whether results of early clinical trials or preclinical studies will be indicative of the results of future trials, our ability to obtain and maintain regulatory approval of our product candidates, our ability to operate in a competitive industry and compete successfully against competitors that may be more advanced or have greater resources than we do, our ability to obtain and adequately protect intellectual property rights for our product candidates and the effects of COVID-19 on our clinical programs and business operations. Many of these risks are described in greater detail in our filings with the SEC. Any forward-looking statements in this press release speak only as of the date of this press release. Chinook assumes no obligation to update forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, after the date of this press release.

Contact:
Noopur Liffick
Vice President, Investor Relations & Corporate Communications
investors@chinooktx.com
media@chinooktx.com