Tuesday, December 11, 2018
HitGen Ltd announced that the company has entered into a drug discovery research collaboration with Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corporation (President and CEO: Masayuki Mitsuka; Headquarters: Osaka; “MTPC”) to identify novel small molecule leads for targets of interest. According to the agreement, HitGen will apply its advanced technology platform, based on DNA-encoded library design, synthesis, and screening system, to discover novel lead compounds. The collaboration will use HitGen’s libraries containing more than 300 billion individually DNA-encoded compounds. The DNA encoding of molecules enables screening and analysis of vast chemical space, supporting MTPC’s aim to increase success rates for the generation of target leads for new drugs and to drastically shorten screening timelines for expanding MTPC’s pipeline. Under the terms of the agreement, HitGen will receive technology access and research support payments, and be eligible for milestone payments from MTPC. Financial details were not disclosed.
"We really expect that the collaboration with HitGen will be able to accelerate our drug discovery researches leading to creation of innovative pharmaceuticals. We are engaged in research and development of innovative pharmaceuticals that are valuable to patients, particularly in the fields of central nervous system diseases, autoimmune diseases including rare diseases, and vaccine," said Dr. Hiroaki Ueno, Managing Executive Officer and Head of Sohyaku Innovative Research Division at MTPC.
“We are very pleased to enter into this collaboration with MTPC, a leading pharmaceutical company with over 300-year history in the industry. This collaboration further underscores the growing recognition and impact of DNA-encoded libraries for innovative drug discovery research. We will work closely with MTPC scientists to generate novel leads for their innovative research programs to address unmet medical needs,” said Dr. Jin Li, Chairman and CEO of HitGen.
