Evotec SE has expanded its clinical and commercial manufacturing platform for small molecule therapeutics by acquiring Central Glass Germany GmbH from the Japanese chemical manufacturing company Central Glass Co. Ltd.

Going forward, Central Glass Germany GmbH will operate as Evotec Drug Substance (Germany) GmbH (Evotec DS). The company is located on a pharmaceutical manufacturing campus in Halle/Westphalia, Germany and is operating with a team of approximately 60 chemical manufacturing experts. The facility is EU cGMP certified and provides highly flexible drug substance manufacturing space with over 5,000 square meters of floor space.

The acquisition of the Central Glass site in Germany enhances and accelerates Evotec’s strategy of pursuing integrated discovery and development of new medicines. The significant reactor capacity and long-standing chemical expertise brought in by Evotec DS provide a high quality, European-based solution to Evotec’s partners for the development and commercialization of drug substance. Once integrated into Evotec’s existing drug substance development and manufacturing platform, the new site will offer the company’s partners highly flexible product lifecycle management strategies, particularly in the field of precision medicines and in rare diseases.

“Our understanding of diseases continuously grows in depth—and with it the number of rare diseases that we can meaningfully distinguish and target with precision medicine,” said Werner Lanthaler, CEO, Evotec. “Evotec DS reinforces our commitment to rare diseases by integrating the manufacturing of such drugs into the drug discovery and development continuum. We very warmly welcome the team into the Evotec family and are excited to leverage their skills and expertise for our partners.”

Evotec said it intends to invest in the coming years to establish the facility as a leading European center of excellence for rare disease drug substance manufacturing.