(Yicai Global) May 13 -- Chinese biopharmaceutical firm HitGen has signed a five-year strategic partnership agreement with US biotech company Arclight to develop new drugs to treat central nervous system diseases.

The pair will use Hitgen’s leading DNA-Encoded Compound Library and Targeted Protein Degradation tech platforms to detect and develop innovative medicines for diseases including Alzheimer's and Parkinson’s, the Chengdu-based firm said on its official WeChat account today.

The research and development of new treatments for such diseases is extremely difficult because of the non-druggability of relevant targets and the existence of the blood-brain barriers that make it hard for medicines to reach lesions. No effective treatment has yet been found for many of the diseases.

HitGen is a global leader in the sector of DEL technologies, said Steven Tregay, president and chief executive of Arclight. This tie-up will help the company’s TDP and non-TDP projects, as well as those related to new drugs in the screening of hit compounds, and boost the R&D of new drugs for central nervous system diseases.

The news failed to lift HitGen’s shares today. The stock [SHA: 688222] ended 1 percent down at CNY13.65 (USD2.01).

Founded in 2012, HitGen has units in Cambridge in the United Kingdom and Houston in the United States It has allied with a number of international pharmaceutical and biotech businesses.

HitGen’s revenue rose 28 percent to CNY310 million (USD45.6 million) last year, with net profit down 1 percent at CNY63.4 million (USD9.3 million). Its investment in core tech platforms and R&D of new drugs hit CNY73.7 million.

Arclight is the drug-detecting engine of Massachusetts-based Arclight Therapeutics. It focuses on tech innovation and business incubation relevant to the R&D of treatments for neurodegenerative diseases.

Editor: Futura Costaglione