HAMBURG, Germany ¿ Evotec BioSystems AG entered into a $16 million drug discovery alliance with Pfizer Inc., the first agreement between Evotec and a U.S.-based company.

Evotec, of Hamburg, will deliver its EVOscreen drug discovery platform to Pfizer research sites and contribute to a joint research program.

Pfizer, of New York, is reorganizing its drug discovery and development strategy, Karsten Henco, CEO of Evotec BioSystems AG, told BioWorld International. ¿Looking for new allies, Pfizer evaluated 60 companies and chose Evotec along with three other partners.¿

The other companies are Neurogen Corp., of Branford, Conn.; Aurora Biosciences Corp., of San Diego; and a company whose name will be disclosed later this month. In certain areas, Aurora competes directly with Evotec.

¿After establishing relationships with Novartis and SmithKline Beecham, we are now especially happy that for the first time we could enter into a collaboration with a top U.S. pharma company, and that we could catch up with Aurora,¿ added Ulrich Aldag, Evotec¿s chief financial officer. ¿Pfizer decided on the collaboration after inspecting the prototype of our EVOscreen drug discovery platform.¿

Under the terms of the three-year collaboration, Evotec will deliver its EVOscreen hardware and software to Pfizer research sites in the U.K. and the U.S. The platform is able to perform up to 100,000 assays in 1 microliter volumes automatically and will be used by Pfizer to screen for molecule-molecule and molecule-cell interactions. In addition, Evotec will contribute to a joint research program by designing novel cellular and biochemical assays. In return, Evotec will receive up to $16 million, including a technology access fee and research payments. Also, Pfizer will make a $1 million equity investment in Evotec.

Aldag said Evotec was negotiating with other partners on technology delivery and service collaborations, and that its own research projects were on schedule.

Separately, Evotec is postponing its proposed initial public offering.

¿As we are well endowed financially at the moment, we are not in a hurry to go public,¿ Aldag said. ¿We will wait until the markets are a bit more favorable than they were during the last months.¿ He said that is expected later this year.