SAN ANTONIO, Texas — Evestra Inc. has landed a $2.6 millon contract with the National Institutes of Health to develop reproductive health therapies through 2012.

The agreement transfers Dr. P.N. Rao’s long-standing contract between the NIH and the Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research (SFBR) to Evestra™, where Rao is now Senior Vice President of Research. He was Senior Scientist and Chairman of the Organic Chemistry Department at the Foundation before it spun off Evestra™ in April 2008.

The five-year contract between SFBR and the NIH’s National Institute of Child Health and Human Development was renewed in mid-2007 and transferred to Evestra™ effective October 2008. It provides Evestra™ (www.Evestra.com) with additional revenues of $2.6M through 2012 to support research in reproductive health, sponsored and directed by the NIH.  

“This is an important milestone for Evestra™,” said President and CEO Ze’ev Shaked, “since it underscores the confidence the NIH has in Evestra™’s knowhow and capabilities in steroidal organic chemistry.

SFBR’s Organic Chemistry Department had earned an international reputation for its expertise in discovery and synthesis of novel steroid compounds used in a wide range of female and male therapeutic interventions. Rao is widely recognized as a leading expert in steroid chemistry. Evestra™ received all of the assets, personnel and scientific knowhow of the Organic Chemistry Department, together with startup funding from SFBR, which currently is the majority shareholder of the company. In mid-2008 the company raised $4.35 million from private investors and launched a wholly-owned German subsidiary, Evestra™ GmbH, later that year.

Evestra™ is uniquely positioned to develop and commercialize its product pipeline in fertility control, hormone replacement therapy and oncology, Shaked said. He added that Evestra™ and the NIH are exploring additional opportunities for collaboration.

“This long-standing contract with the NIH speaks volumes about the quality of the work Dr. Rao and his team have done throughout the years at the Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research,” said Kenneth P. Trevett, SFBR President and CEO. “We’re very excited about the novel and critically important medical approaches to women’s health that Evestra™ can bring to the marketplace.” 

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