Hitgen Inc. and Kaken Pharmaceutical Company have engaged in a trade agreement to develop a novel class of drugs. The partnership is the second agreement between the companies. The deal would grant exclusive rights to Kaken to further develop and commercialize eligible and preclinical and clinical milestone payments from the company.
According to Business Wire, the licensed compounds to be used for the project were under HitGen's leading technological platform. The project would involve the screening of large DNA encoded libraries that house over 400 billion small molecules with drug-like properties. These were said to be synthesized on chemically diverse scaffolds.
Kaken was said to have a number of novel small molecule leads for an unnamed target nominated by the company. The said condition was recognized as a part of the agreement.
The said collaboration would give Kaken the option to develop and commercialize preclinical and clinical milestone payments and under the amount of a license fee. According to the chairman of the board and chief executive officer of HitGen Dr. Jin Li, the licensing agreement with Kaken would only be short-lived.
He added that the successful identification of the licensed compounds by Kaken has proven to be effective and efficient. He also noted that they correspond to HitGen's DEL platform where the agreement would allow the experimentation of novel small molecules against a variety of targets. He also said that the prioritized task would involve finding a drug to the existing coronavirus.
HitGen also claimed that they are waiting and hopeful that Kaken would find a solution through the agreement.
Kaken is a pharmaceutical company based in Japan. It has a secure experience with developing and commercializing novel drugs and medical equipment in the fields of dermatology, orthopedics, and surgery. It also focuses its research and development strategies on rheumatoid arthritis, dermatitis, and osteoarthritis. These correspond to illnesses that generate pain and fungal infection.
On the other hand, HitGen is a biotech company based in Chengdu, China. It has established a small molecule drug discovery research platform that focuses on design, synthesis, and screening of DNA-encoded chemical libraries.
In other news, The Guardian reported that a US biotech firm has also promoted the production of an experimental drug that could treat the recurring coronavirus. The clinical tests performed on patients who tested positive for the virus would yield results in the next month.
About 300 separate trials with different drugs and experimental therapies have been conducted by the parties involved. The basis for the development leaned towards similarities found to cure ebola.
