23 April 2019 - - Chinese biotechnology company HitGen Inc has achieved a milestone in its discovery alliance with US-based drugmaker Merck and Co. Inc., the company said.

The milestone was for the identification of candidates meeting pre-defined criteria, representing the 3rd discovery program between the two companies for which HitGen has achieved this milestone.

This achievement entitles HitGen to receive an undisclosed payment per the research collaboration agreement between both companies announced March 14, 2017.

HitGen has headquarters and main research facilities based in Chengdu, China and with a subsidiary in the USA.

The company has established a platform for small molecule drug centred around the design, assembly and interrogation of DNA encoded chemical libraries. HitGen's DELs contain nearly 400 bn novel, diverse, drug-like small molecule and macrocyclic compounds.

These compounds are members of DELs synthesized from many hundreds of distinct chemical scaffolds, designed with tractable chemistry, and yielding 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 agrochemical solutions.