HitGen has announced that it has entered into a new contract agreement with the Gates Foundation.
HitGen will leverage its industry-leading DNA-encoded library (DEL) platform to identify novel drug leads for the treatment of underserved diseases including tuberculosis and malaria, as well as to discover novel agents for non-hormonal contraception.
Under the terms of the agreement, HitGen will conduct DEL screening against 15 drug targets identified by the Gates Foundation in cooperation with its partners in academia and research institutes.
HitGen will receive funding for the discovery work from the Gates Foundation, building upon a previous project supported by the foundation under which HitGen identified novel drug leads for the treatment of malaria and tuberculosis.
"We are honored to continue this important work with support from the Gates Foundation," said Dr Jin Li, Chair of the Board and CEO of HitGen Inc.
"We look forward to engaging with other world-leading philanthropic and academic institutions to deliver transformative solutions for patients with unmet medical needs."
HitGen is a world leader in the development of DEL technology and applications to early-stage small molecule drug discovery.
Its platform includes more than 1.2 trillion small molecules generated by the DEL technology and the efficiency of the screening process has made it possible for HitGen to enable drug discovery projects for many organisations around the world.