Almac Discovery announced a new research collaboration with HitGen Inc. The collaboration is focused on the identification of novel compounds against selected Deubiquitinating enzymes targets of strategic interest to Almac. Almac Discovery has built an industry-leading platform to prosecute novel targets emerging from the DUB class of enzymes, an increasingly important target class for drug development, which is underpinned by high quality biological validation linking these targets to disease indications. Almac has utilised this platform to generate its own portfolio of drug discovery programmes, as well as to advance a number of DUB target programmes of interest to pharmaceutical partners through a collaborative model.

In this collaboration, the companies will work together to identify novel chemical compounds against selected DUB targets. Almac will provide the targets, and HitGen will then screen their expansive library of over 1.2 trillion small molecules against these targets. Initial hits resulting from the screens will be further validated, and those that meet Almac Discovery's selection criteria will be taken forward into discrete research and development programmes.

The ultimate objective will be to generate highly potent and selective lead compounds that will allow the pharmacological validation of selected DUB targets in a number of different therapeutic modalities. HitGen has built four core technology platforms including DNA-encoded library, molecular fragment and structure design, synthetic therapeutic oligonucleotide and targeted protein degradation. The DEL technology platform, centered around the design, synthesis and interrogation of over one trillion component libraries of DNA-encoded small molecules, is capable of providing services and products including DEL screening, customized DEL library, OpenDEL etc.