Evogene and Unravel Biosciences Announce Collaboration to Develop a First-in-Class Therapy to Reverse Neurological Damage in Demyelinating Disorders
Partnership addresses the unmet need for remyelination therapies for multiple sclerosis and other demyelinating conditions by leveraging generative chemistry design and patient-derived predictive platform
REHOVOT, Israel and BOSTON, January 7, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Evogene Ltd. (NASDAQ:EVGN) (TASE: EVGN), a pioneering computational chemistry company, specializing in the generative design of small molecules for the pharmaceutical and agricultural industries, today announced a scientific collaboration with Unravel Biosciences, Inc., a clinical-stage therapeutics company established to advance drugs for complex diseases through its Predictable Medicine™ platform. This partnership aims to accelerate the discovery and optimization of a first-in-class small-molecule therapeutic capable of restoring myelin and reversing neurological damage in demyelinating diseases.
Degenerative diseases represent some of the most common and impactful disorders globally, affecting hundreds of millions of people. Among them, demyelinating diseases, most notably Multiple Sclerosis (MS), pose a significant clinical burden. MS alone affects approximately 3 million people worldwide and increasing each year. Current therapies focus on slowing disease progression and blocking immune activity, but they do not repair existing damage. To date, no approved therapy has been found to effectively reverse myelin loss and restore neurological function, highlighting an unmet need for millions of patients.
Evogene and Unravel have launched a joint effort to design and validate brain-penetrant inhibitors of a novel demyelination target discovered by Unravel's platform and create the first therapeutic designed to restore myelin and improve neurological function. By taking a function-first discovery approach, the collaboration aims at gaining unique biological insights from genetically defined demyelinating disorders. Such insights will enable translating the discovered underlying biological mechanisms that drive reversal of demyelination to a plethora of such disorders, overcoming the challenge of restoring neurological function in patients.
The collaboration brings together Evogene's ChemPass AI's state-of-the-art computational capabilities for generative molecular design with Unravel's AI-powered BioNAV™ predictive biology platform and Living Molecular Twins™ patient datamine. Using advanced RNA-based network simulations, primary patient data, and predictive AI modeling, Unravel generates novel therapeutic insights and drug targets. This deep scientific understanding will be coupled with Evogene's generative AI models, purpose-built to optimize drug candidates across multiple key parameters, offering a synergistic solution.
The collaboration is aimed at leveraging ChemPass AI's advanced algorithms and models to advance novel drug targets for remyelination, thereby deciphering the molecular requirements for meaningful disease reversal. Along with establishing key chemical and biological features that novel small molecules must possess to facilitate remyelination, ChemPass AI powers advancing lead candidates through its generative AI-guided optimization, based on experimental insights generated by Unravel's in vitro and in vivo systems and in silico clinical outcome simulation.
Dr. Richard Novak, Unravel Biosciences' CEO, stated: "We are thrilled to partner with Evogene to design optimized new therapeutic candidates to promote remyelination for MS and other neurodegenerative disorders. The synergistic combination of Evogene's ChemPassAI engine and generative chemistry together with Unravel's patient RNA-derived Living Molecular Twins™ demonstrates the acceleration of drug development driven by novel data and advanced algorithms, since patients cannot wait."
Mr. Ofer Haviv, Evogene's President and CEO, stated: "This collaboration with Unravel Biosciences integrates cutting-edge scientific innovation with urgent clinical needs. Unravel has achieved the critical, complex work of identifying and validating a novel, druggable target that can reverse demyelination. Our ChemPass AI engine, along with the generative model ChemPassGPT, is uniquely equipped to design and optimize novel small molecules to efficiently hit this target and ensure brain-penetrance required for clinical efficacy. We expect our joint effort to pave the way for transformative treatments for patients which today have limited therapeutic options."
About Evogene Ltd.
Evogene Ltd. (Nasdaq/TASE: EVGN) is a pioneering company in computational chemistry, specializing in the generative design of small molecules for the pharmaceutical and agricultural industries.
At the core of its technology is ChemPass AI, a proprietary generative AI engine that enables the design of novel, highly potent small molecules optimized across multiple critical parameters. This powerful platform significantly improves success rates while reducing development time and costs.
Built on this powerful technological foundation, and through strategic partnerships alongside internal product development, Evogene is focused on creating breakthrough products driven by the integration of scientific innovation with real-world industry needs. We call this approach "Real-World Innovation".
Learn more at: www.evogene.com.
About Unravel Biosciences, Inc.
Unravel Biosciences is a clinical-stage therapeutics company that integrates AI systems biology computation with rapid clinical validation of discovered targets, leading to four clinical trials starting in 2026. Unravel leverages its proprietary BioNAV™ platform and primary transcriptomics data to create Living Molecular Twins of real patients that can be used to predict therapeutic response. This enables target and drug discovery, preclinical screening, patient stratification, and clinical validation to find treatments for complex diseases using a systematic, data-driven approach called Predictable Medicine™.
Unravel's platform discovered RVL002, a first-in-class small molecule that targets mitochondrial metabolism and has multiple clinical applications, including neurodegenerative and metabolic disorders, and identified RVL069, a molecule that targets a novel mechanism to treat dystonias. The rareSHIFT™ program provides platform and proprietary datamine access to foundation and biotech partners to accelerate and clinically derisk therapeutics. www.unravel.bio and www.rareshift.org
This press release contains "forward-looking statements" relating to future events. These statements may be identified by words such as "may," "could," "expects," "hopes," "intends," "anticipates," "plans," "believes," "scheduled," "estimates," "demonstrates" or words of similar meaning. For example, Evogene and its subsidiaries are using forward-looking statements in this press release when it discusses the success of the collaboration to accelerate the discovery and optimization of a first-in-class small-molecule therapeutic capable of restoring myelin and reversing neurological damage in demyelinating diseases, create the first therapeutic designed to restore myelin and improve neurological function, the generation of novel therapeutic insights and drug targets. Such statements are based on current expectations, estimates, projections and assumptions, describe opinions about future events, involve certain risks and uncertainties which are difficult to predict and are not guarantees of future performance. Therefore, actual future results, performance or achievements of Evogene and its subsidiaries may differ materially from what is expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements due to a variety of factors, many of which are beyond the control of Evogene and its subsidiaries, including, without limitation, the current war between Israel and Hamas and any worsening of the situation in Israel such as further mobilizations or escalation in the northern border of Israel and those risk factors contained in Evogene's reports filed with the applicable securities authority. In addition, Evogene and its subsidiaries rely, and expect to continue to rely, on third parties to conduct certain activities, such as their field-trials and pre-clinical studies, and if these third parties do not successfully carry out their contractual duties, comply with regulatory requirements or meet expected deadlines, Evogene and its subsidiaries may experience significant delays in the conduct of their activities. Evogene and its subsidiaries disclaim any obligation or commitment to update these forward-looking statements to reflect future events or developments or changes in expectations, estimates, projections and assumptions.
Evogene Investors Relations Contact:
Email: [email protected]
Tel: +972-8-9311901
Unravel Investor Relations Contact:
Email: [email protected]
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