Gilead taps HitGen for drug discovery

04-Jun-2019 - Last updated on 04-Jun-2019 at 15:35 GMT

(Image: Getty/daizuoxin)

Gilead and HitGen have signed a drug discovery collaboration – one of several recently announced agreements as HitGen sees increased demand for its technology, says CSO.

HitGen’s technology platform is based on DNA-encoded chemical libraries (DELs), which include encoded syntheses for more than 400bn novel, drug-like small molecule and macrocycle compounds.

As part of its drug discovery research collaboration with Gilead, announced yesterday, the company will apply the technology to identify potential small molecule leads against targets of interest to Gilead.

HitGen will receive an undisclosed upfront payment and be eligible for milestone payments, as per the agreement.

“This technology is gaining a great deal of credibility in the pharma and biotech world due to some assets which are in late-stage clinical trials,” Dr. Barry Morgan, chief scientific officer (CSO) of HitGen told us, noting that it is for this reason that the company is seeing an increased demand for its services.

“We have quite a number of agreements with large pharma companies, biotech, and some in academia,” Morgan said.

Among the company’s recent series of collaboration announcements include those with Kaken Pharmaceutical, Almirall, and Sun Pharma Advanced Research Company.

HitGen also has agreements for DEL-based drug discovery research with Bayer, Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma, Genentech, and Biogen.