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Lipigon signs major new deal with Shanghai-listed HitGen
Umeå-based Lipigon Pharmaceuticals AB has signed a major new agreement with Chinese biotech company HitGen to develop drug candidates that treat blood fat disorders and cardiovascular diseases.
“We want to create effective treatments and contribute to a better quality of life for patients,” says Stefan K Nilsson, CEO of Lipigon.
Lipigon, which is located at the Umeå Biotech Incubator, specialises in developing medicines for lipid-related disorders, i.e. diseases caused by irregularities when fats are processed in the body. Now the company has signed an exciting new partnership deal with rapidly expanding HitGen, a biotech company listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange that has created an industry-leading platform for early-stage drug discovery research centered on DNA encoded chemical libraries.
“HitGen is an amazing partner for us so it feels wonderful to have agreed this deal. They are a world leader in a technology that makes it possible to conduct huge screenings of drug-like substances in order to find good starting substances for continued drug development,” says Stefan K Nilsson.
Together the two companies will develop drug candidates that activate an enzyme that can then be used to treat blood fat disorders and cardiovascular disease. The agreement forms a collaboration in which Lipigon owns the project and HitGen will share in future revenue.
“At Lipigon we will use our expertise in this field to design the actual screening process, which will then be carried out at HitGen. The best drug-like substances will be sent to us for further testing and then together we will optimise these substances,” says Stefan K Nilsson.
A major medical need exists for cardiovascular disease treatments. Currently only a third of disease cases are prevented, even when treatment goals are met.
“Cardiovascular disease is the most common cause of death in the world. Our goal is to create safe and effective treatments,” says Stefan K Nilsson.
He believes the deal will broaden Lipigon's portfolio and increase interest among private investors in the ongoing projects that Lipigon is currently advancing to raise new capital.
“It is flattering that one of the world's leading biotech companies wants to cooperate with us. HitGen has agreements with several large pharmaceutical companies and it is recognition of our expertise that they want to work with us too,” says Stefan K Nilsson.
“We look forward to working with Lipigon,” says Jin Li, Chairman and CEO of HitGen.
“This collaboration further strengthens HitGen's position and demonstrates the potential for large screenings in early-stage drug development. The goal is to be able to offer new and innovative treatments for Lipigon's patient groups,” he added.
For further information please contact:
Stefan K Nilsson, CEO of Lipigon
+46 70-578 17 68
stefan@lipigon.se
About Lipigon
Lipigon develops new treatments for patients with lipid-related diseases. The company benefits from 50 years of lipid research conducted at Umeå University in northern Sweden. Our primary focus is orphan drugs and niche indications. Lipigon's pipeline contains a total of three active programs, including an ANGPTL antisense program called ‘Lipisense’ and a gene therapy program together with Combigene AB (plc).
www.lipigon.se.
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Umeå Biotech Incubator (UBI) is one of Sweden’s state-of-the-art business incubators within the life sciences. We help researchers to use their data to the benefit of patients and citizens, improving their health. We support and train entrepreneurs in the fields of pharmaceuticals, diagnostics and medical engineering, and act as a bridge between academia, medicine and the business community.
