About 65LAB

Channelling Global Expertise to Create Impactful Companies

65LAB was founded to turn innovations into lifesaving medicines. Our mission is to drive
scientific advancement and create new therapeutic companies from Singapore. 

We accelerate the drug discovery pathway and new company formation by bringing together
the expertise of global partners — leading research institutions in Singapore, established life science investors, and reputed drug discovery and development company Evotec.

65 pays homage to the year Singapore became an independent nation. It is also Singapore’s country code.

What’s the Process?

65LAB identifies promising therapeutic projects from applicants in partner academic and research institutions. It then provides project funding and mentoring to successful applicants
to achieve preclinical proof-of-concept.

65LAB’s drug discovery Expert in Residence (EIR) from Evotec will work closely with successful applicants to develop a commercialisation strategy and the necessary work plan. Project funding will depend on the envisaged milestones and can be an amount of up to USD 1.5 million.

Upon conclusion of 65LAB funding, a project may be selected for further development and inclusion in a future spinout. The 65LAB investors will then help to develop the subsequent business case and could form the syndicate to lead and/or participate in the spinout’s initial and subsequent financing rounds.

Expert in Residence

Steve Courtney, Ph.D

 Steve has over 30 years experience in the biotech and drug discovery CRO industry. Most recently Steve was Executive Vice President, Strategic Alliance Management at Evotec having progressed from Department Head in Medicinal Chemistry through to SVP Drug Discovery where he led many research programmes in collaboration with Pharma and Biotech.

 

Prior to Evotec, Steve was at Oxford GlycoSciences where he was a Group Leader in Medicinal Chemistry. Steve has extensive experience in drug discovery and has led multiple programmes resulting in the identification of more than 20 pre-clinical candidates with several progressing into clinical trials. Through his career Steve has worked in many therapeutic areas including oncology, pain, cardiovascular, kidney, autoimmune diseases and neurodegeneration.

 

Steve gained his PhD in Chemistry from the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow (UK) in the antibacterial area and followed this with postdoctoral research positions at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver (Canada) and the University of Portsmouth (UK) working in natural product synthesis and cancer research.

 

Partners

Steering Committee