South Korean clinical-stage biotech company Bridge Biotherapeutics (KQ:288330) announced on Thursday that it has signed a joint research agreement with HitGen Inc (SSE:688222), a China-based drug discovery platform company.

The partnership builds on successful initial hit finding and identification work from HitGen's DNA-encoded library (DEL), aiming to further develop the novel hits as promising drug candidates for cancer. With the launch of this joint research with HitGen, Bridge Biotherapeutics anticipates that the derivation of effective substances, optimisation, and securing of lead compounds will progress rapidly within the next year.

Bridge Biotherapeutics has initiated the fourth cohort in the Phase 1 clinical trial for its leading candidate drug BBT-207 for the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer. Through this collaboration with HitGen, the company is embarking on the discovery of new anti-cancer drugs as part of its efforts to strengthen its cancer portfolio.

James Lee, Bridge Biotherapeutics' CEO, said: "By collaborating with HitGen, we will accelerate the discovery of new targeted anti-cancer drugs. We will challenge ourselves to develop drugs that can provide anti-cancer treatment effects even for genetically mutated cancers, which have been difficult to develop until now."