C4X Discovery Holdings PLC (AIM:C4XD) said it is teaming up with a Shanghai-listed drug developer to identify ‘hits’ against a small molecule inflammatory target.
It is collaborating with HitGen Inc, a world leader in developing and applying DNA-encoded library (DEL) technology.
“We believe this collaboration with HitGen gives us access to a world-leading screening technology, which perfectly complements both our drug discovery expertise and Conformetrix technology and could enable C4XD to unlock a highly challenging target in inflammation,” said chief executive Dr Clive Dix.
The aim of the project is to "augment" C4XD's growing pipeline of small molecule inflammatory disease candidates for pre-clinical development and out-licensing.
Specifically, DEL screening will be used to identify "hits" against commercially valuable targets,
C4XD will then apply its Conformetrix molecule design technology to translate these hits into the starting points for the drug discovery process.