Hamburg-based drug discovery and development company Evotec AG has acquired the Zebrafish screening operations of Abingdon-based Summit Corporation Plc for £500,000 in cash.

Hamburg-based drug discovery and development company Evotec AG has acquired the Zebrafish screening operations of Abingdon-based Summit Corporation Plc for £500,000 in cash.
 
Zebrafish are model organisms that are used in the screening of potential drug candidates to provide data from the earliest stages of drug discovery and throughout the development process.

Dr Mario Polywka, CEO of Evotec, commented: “The integration of this business offers significant synergies, including the move of Summit’s UK operations into our facilities in Abingdon, the integration of this offering into our global sales and marketing network, as well as the use of the Singapore facility as a base to target new growth markets in the Far East, expanding our current business reach.”

Evotec reported an increase in revenues of 20 per cent to € 39.6 million (£38.5 million) in 2008, with an operating loss of € 73.2 million.