Oncodesign and HitGen Announce a Strategic Partnership in Integrated Drug Discovery Services (IDDS)

An alliance for the enablement of small-molecule R&D, spanning from Hit finding up to the preparation of the Investigational New Drug filing

DIJON, France & CHENGDU, China–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Regulatory News:

ONCODESIGN (ALONC – FR0011766229) (Paris:ALONC) and HITGEN (688222.SH) today announced the start of a worldwide strategic alliance in Integrated Drug Discovery Services for the identification and progression of new chemical entities, spanning from Hit finding up to preparation of the Investigational New Drug filing.

Facilitating this joint integrated drug discovery service, HitGen will apply its powerful DNA Encoded Library (DEL) technology platform and its large collection of novel, diverse and drug-like DELs. This technology has gained widespread interest in the pharmaceutical and biotech sectors in recent years, driven by broad-based success in identifying novel, tractable small-molecule ligands for novel therapeutic targets.

Oncodesign will carry on the innovation process through its DRIVE-for small molecules discovery new services offer capitalizing on its innovative technology and solid experience in drug discovery and extensive disease biology expertise in Oncology and Inflammatory diseases to design and deliver leads and preclinical candidates of high quality for progressing them up to the IND submission.

Through this strategic partnership in Integrated Drug Discovery Services, Oncodesign strengthens the fully integrated drug discovery support required to develop programs from target identification through to IND submission. These joint capabilities enable clients in the pharma industry to leverage the benefits of HitGen’s DEL technology platform with Oncodesign’s drug development expertise in major therapeutic areas with the aim to discover and progress new drug candidates towards a clinical proof-of-concept.

Fabrice Viviani, Senior Executive Vice-President and Chief of Oncodesign Services said: “We are extremely delighted to engage with HitGen, a highly recognized and world leader in DNA-encoded libraries, into this strategic partnership. We are excited to join our forces and complementary expertise within the DRIVE-for small molecules offer to further gain recognition of our ability to identify and generate together novel pre-clinical candidates ready to progress into the clinic.”

Philippe Genne, Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and Founder of Oncodesign added: “Through this partnership, we are building an innovative technological continuum aiming to provide clients with a complete service offer in the development of drug candidates. Perfectly complementary with our expertise, HitGen’s technology is positioned upstream on the value chain of Drug Discovery process and, thus, enables us now to generate hits, compounds with desired activity related to the new therapeutic targets. This alliance will support our expansion on the IDDS market, which until now has been reserved for larger Contract Research Organizations (CRO). This agreement gives us an international positioning, including Asia, the US and Europe. The co-branding around the DRIVE -SM offer will be an efficient leverage to generate commercial synergies. The marketing of the IDDS offer is a strategic element for the growth of our service revenue and the achievement of our 2023 objectives.”

Jin Lin, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of HitGen added: “We are delighted to enter this collaboration with Oncodesign. We believe the collaboration will reinforce the role and reputation of HitGen’s platform in the rapidly developing field of DNA-encoded libraries (DELs) and further accelerate the effective translation from DEL hits to clinical candidates for a variety of therapeutic targets.”

About HitGen Inc.: www.hitgen.com

HitGen is a rapidly growing biotech company with headquarters based in Chengdu, China, with a subsidiary in the USA. HitGen has established an industry-leading platform for early-stage drug discovery research centered on DNA encoded chemical libraries (DELs). HitGen’s DELs include encoded syntheses for hundreds of billions of novel, diverse, drug-like small molecule and macrocycle compounds. These compounds are members of DELs synthesized from many hundreds of distinct chemical scaffolds, designed and assembled with tractable chemistry based on proven results for identifying drug-like leads against biological targets from known and novel classes. HitGen is working with multiple pharmaceutical and biotech companies, foundations and research institutes in North America, Europe, Australia and Asia to discover and develop novel therapeutics of the future.

About ONCODESIGN: www.oncodesign.com

Founded 25 years ago by Dr. Philippe Genne, the Company’s CEO and Chairman, Oncodesign is a biopharmaceutical company dedicated to precision medicine. With its unique experience acquired by working with more than 800 clients, including the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies, along with its comprehensive technological platform combining state-of-the-art medicinal chemistry, pharmacology, regulated bioanalysis, medical imaging and Artificial Intelligence, Oncodesign is able to predict and identify, at a very early stage, each molecule’s therapeutic usefulness and potential to become an effective drug. Applied to kinase inhibitors, which represent a market estimated at over $65 billion by 2027 and accounting for almost 25% of the pharmaceutical industry’s R&D expenditure, Oncodesign’s technology has already enabled the targeting of several promising molecules with substantial therapeutic potential, in oncology and elsewhere, along with partnerships with pharmaceutical groups such as Bristol-Myers Squibb. Oncodesign is based in Dijon, France, in the heart of the town’s university and hospital hub, and within the Paris-Saclay cluster. Oncodesign has 233 employees and subsidiaries in Canada and the USA.

Disclaimer

This press release contains certain forward – looking statements and estimates concerning the Company’s financial condition, operating results, strategy, projects and future performance and the markets in which it operates. Such forward-looking statements and estimates may be identified by words such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “can,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “is designed to,” “may,” “might,” “plan,” “potential,” “predict,” “objective,” “should,” or the negative of these and similar expressions. They incorporate all topics that are not historical facts. Forward looking statements, forecasts and estimates are based on management’s current assumptions and assessment of risks, uncertainties and other factors, known and unknown, which were deemed to be reasonable at the time they were made but which may turn out to be incorrect. Events and outcomes are difficult to predict and depend on factors beyond the Company’s control. Consequently, the actual results, financial condition, performances and/or achievements of the Company or of the industry may turn out to differ materially from the future results, performances or achievements expressed or implied by these statements, forecasts and estimates. Owing to these uncertainties, no representation is made as to the correctness or fairness of these forward-looking statements, forecasts and estimates. Furthermore, forward-looking statements, forecasts and estimates speak only as of the date on which they are made, and the Company undertakes no obligation to update or revise any of them, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.

Contacts

HitGen
For more information, please call +86-28-85197385, +1 508-840-9646 or visit www.hitgen.com.
For media inquiries: media@hitgen.com
For investor inquiries: investors@hitgen.com
For business development: bd@hitgen.com

Oncodesign
Philippe Genne

Chairman and CEO

Tel. : +33 (0)3 80 78 82 60

investisseurs@oncodesign.com

NewCap
Investor Relations

Mathilde Bohin / Louis-Victor Delouvrier

Tel. : +33 (0)1 44 71 94 95

oncodesign@newcap.eu

NewCap
Media Relations

Arthur Rouillé

Tel. : +33 (0)1 44 71 00 15

oncodesign@newcap.eu