China’s HitGen Inc. (SHA: 688222) announced a strategic research collaboration between its wholly owned subsidiary, Vernalis Research, and U.S.-based Unison Medicines Inc., targeting an undisclosed bacterial pathogen previously deemed “undruggable.” The partnership leverages Vernalis’ drug discovery expertise to design small-molecule therapies, with Unison funding all R&D activities and sharing downstream commercial milestones.
Collaboration Terms and Objectives
Under the agreement, Vernalis will deploy its fragment-based and DNA-encoded library (DEL) technologies to develop novel compounds against the bacterial target. Unison will finance research costs and gain exclusive rights to resulting therapies, while Vernalis retains eligibility for milestone payments and royalties. Vernalis also participated in Unison’s seed financing round, deepening ties between the firms.
HitGen’s Drug Discovery Platforms
HitGen, founded in 2012 and headquartered in Chengdu, operates subsidiaries in the U.K. and U.S. The firm specializes in four core technologies:
- DNA-encoded libraries (DEL): HitGen’s DEL contains over 1.2 trillion novel small molecules and macrocyclic compounds, built using 6,000+ chemical scaffolds and 40,000 building blocks.
- Fragment-based drug discovery (FBDD)/structure-based design (SBDD): Accelerates hit-to-lead optimization.
- Synthetic therapeutic oligonucleotides (STO): Targets RNA-based therapies.
Targeted protein degradation (TPD): Focuses on PROTACs and other degraders.
Pipeline and Commercial Progress
HitGen maintains ~20 internal drug discovery projects, with four candidates advancing to clinical trials after IND approvals. The Unison partnership marks another step in HitGen’s global expansion, combining its technical strengths with Unison’s commercial focus to tackle high-value bacterial targets.-Fineline Info & Tech
