Time to spin-in
Far more than their U.S. cousins, German biotech companies have been buffeted by the changing whims of investors regarding which business model to pursue. Today, it is once again fashionable - and fundable - to develop products, as exemplified by last week's decision by Evotec OAI AG to re-integrate its Evotec Neurosciences GmbH subsidiary.
Evotec (FSE:EVT, Hamburg, Germany) began life in 1993 as an evolutionary screening company focused on discovery in anti-infectives, and by 2000 was looking to become the pharmaceutical industry's partner of choice for high throughput screening and medicinal chemistry services, with no plans to become fully integrated. Nevertheless, it quietly migrated through the value chain so that by 2002 it had skills ranging from target validation to taking compounds through Phase IIa trials...