Evotec Lands Gates Foundation Cash While Boardroom Battle Heats Up

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation funds Evotec's AI-driven TB research with $10M, offering a boost amid activist truce, CFO change, and restructuring.

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is pumping nearly $10 million into Evotec’s tuberculosis research, handing the embattled Hamburg-based drug developer a rare piece of good news as it navigates an activist investor truce and a leadership shake-up.

The funding is split into two roughly equal tranches — one worth just under $5 million over 25 months, the other around $5 million over 24 months. Both target the discovery of novel small-molecule drug candidates, with a particular focus on long-acting injectable formulations designed to shorten treatment duration and improve safety. Crucially, the work will also tackle drug-resistant TB strains.

Evotec plans to deploy its AI-powered platforms to accelerate the hunt. Chief Scientific Officer Cord Dohrmann said the grant allows the company to deploy those technologies “in a targeted manner” to push promising candidates into clinical testing faster.

The announcement comes at a turbulent moment for the company. Just a day earlier, Evotec revealed it had struck a cooperation agreement with MAK Capital Fund LP, one of its largest shareholders and a fund that had been anything but passive. Under the deal, MAK Capital agreed to standard voting and cooperation rules aimed at smoothing dialogue between the company and its investors.

As part of that pact, Evotec will propose expanding its supervisory board from six to seven members at the annual general meeting on June 11, 2026. Two new names are on the slate: Dr. Wolfgang Hofmann as an independent member, and Dieter Weinand, who is slated to become chairman.

The governance overhaul runs parallel to a deeper operational restructuring. Evotec is in the thick of its “Horizon” transformation program, a cost-cutting and refocusing plan targeting annual savings of around €75 million by the end of 2027. Management has set a goal of achieving an adjusted EBITDA margin above 20% by 2028.

The company is also changing its finance chief. Paul Hitchin stepped down as CFO on April 30, 2026, citing personal reasons — a departure Evotec stressed has nothing to do with its operational or strategic position. Taking over from May 1 is Claire Hinshelwood, a veteran with more than 30 years in global finance leadership roles at Novartis and Syngenta. The orderly handover is meant to signal stability to a market that tends to punish uncertainty during turnarounds.

Strategically, Evotec is doubling down on higher-margin areas, with its biologics platform Just – Evotec Biologics taking center stage. Partnerships with Sandoz and the U.S. Department of Defense (BARDA) are expected to fuel growth there.

The market’s initial reaction to the Gates news was modestly positive. Evotec shares traded at €5.08, up about 1.5% from the previous close — though still nearly 39% below their 52-week high of €8.32. Analysts see room to run, with a consensus price target of roughly €6.83.

Two key dates now loom. On May 6, 2026, Evotec will release its first-quarter results — the first concrete progress report on the Horizon initiative. Then comes the June 11 shareholder meeting, where the board expansion and new supervisory appointments will be put to a vote. The Q1 numbers will show whether the operational turnaround is gaining traction, or whether the governance truce remains the only bright spot for now.