Reported by Lin Ke

On the afternoon of November 22, the Listing Committee of Sci-tech Innovation Board released the results of the 48th review meeting of 2019. The announcement showed that HitGen Pharmaceuticals Inc. was approved for the IPO, planning to raise about RMB 660 million for the building of “new molecular design, construction and application platform” and “new drug development center”.

HitGen was established in 2012 and was co-founded by Dr. Jin Li, a member of the Royal Society of Chemistry together with a number of experts in biology and chemistry at home and abroad.  Since its establishment, the company has been focusing on the research and creation of the DNA ENCODED COMPOUND LIBRARY (DEL) technology, and the early chain segment development of original innovative drugs - the discovery of hit compound and lead compound. The company is located in Chengdu Tianfu International Bio-town, Sichuan, possessing a research and development base of nearly 20,000 square meters.

DNA-encoded compound library (DEL) technology is the core technology of HitGen, which can quickly, efficiently and cost-effectively generate a bulk of new small molecule compounds. Relying on its leading DEL technology and related supporting drug design, screening and optimization platforms, HitGen can provide partners with technical services in the early stages of drug discovery and compound synthesis. As of the end of the reporting period, the company has established the wholly independent intellectual property right, a library of DNA-encoded small molecule compounds with more than 400 billion molecular structures, called the HitGen Library. Specific businesses include DEL screening service, DEL library customization service, chemical synthesis service, and transfer of new drug R&D projects.

At present, DEL screening and DEL library customization are the core income sources of HitGen. The company’s overall revenue in the reporting period witnessed a substantial growth. The revenue from 2016 to 2018 was RMB 16.4291 million, RMB 53.2187 million and RMB 151.196 million, and the growth rates in 2017 and 2018 were 223.93% and 184.10%, respectively, on a year-on-year basis.

HitGen is different from regular CRO companies. It not only has a library of DNA-encoded compounds with independent intellectual property rights, but also possesses the core intellectual property rights of pharmaceuticals, that is, the intellectual property rights of drug structures. So it can better carry out the transfer of new drug R&D projects. At present, among the main new drug projects under development, one is in the phase I clinical trial stage, and one is preparing to apply for a clinical license to the National Medical Products Administration, and the rest are in the preclinical research stage. Some of these projects involve new molecular entities with novel mechanisms and unique structures, all of which are independent R&D projects.