HitGen has announced that HitGen Inc. and Kaken Pharmaceutical have entered into a license agreement to develop a novel class of drugs. The licensed compounds were identified using HitGen’s leading technology platform, which involved screening large DNA encoded libraries, containing over 400 billion of small molecules with drug-like properties synthesized on chemically diverse scaffolds. A number of novel small molecule leads for an undisclosed target nominated by Kaken were the subject of this license agreement.

Under the terms of the collaborative agreement, HitGen will grant exclusive rights to Kaken for further development and commercialization, and be eligible for preclinical and clinical milestone payments from Kaken as the project progresses, in addition to an upfront license fee.

“We are delighted to announce this significant project milestone. The success of delivery of these licensed compounds has further demonstrated the power of our DEL platform to discover novel small molecules against a variety of targets, including those previously challenging ones. We look forward to seeing the progress made by Kaken” said Dr. Jin Li, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of HitGen.

Kaken is a specialty pharmaceutical company in Japan with strong experience in developing and commercializing novel pharmaceuticals and medical devices in the fields of orthopedics, dermatology and surgery. Kaken concentrates its R&D resources in inflammation/immunology (dermatitis, rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis), pain relief and fungal infection areas while HitGen is a rapidly growing biotech company with headquarter and main research facility based in Chengdu, China and with a subsidiary in the USA.

HitGen has established a platform for small molecule drug discovery research centred on the design, synthesis and screening of DNA encoded chemical libraries (DELs). HitGen’s DELs contain over 400 billion novel, diverse, drug-like small molecule and macrocyclic compounds. These compounds are members of DELs synthesised from many hundreds of distinct chemical scaffolds, designed with tractable chemistry, and yielded proven results for the discovery of small molecule leads against precedented and unprecedented classes of biological targets. HitGen is collaborating with pharmaceutical, biotech, and chemical companies, foundations and research institutes in North America, Europe, Asia and Africa to discover and develop approaches for novel medicines and other solutions.