Vipergen establishes research partnership with Bayer to discover novel compoundsfor pharmaceuticals and more sustainable crop protection solutions

Vipergen, a leading provider of small-molecule drug discovery services based on DNA-encoded library (DEL) technologies, announced the signing of a multi-target research agreement with Bayer to discover novel small-molecule lead compounds for development of pharmaceuticals and more sustainable crop protection solutions. Under the terms of the agreement, Vipergen will apply its new in-living-cell DNA-encoded library (DEL) screening platform to discover novel small-molecule compounds that bind to selected Bayer protein targets. Bayer will select potential drug and crop protection development candidates based on the hits generated by Vipergen's technology. Bayer will retain exclusive rights to globally commercialize all products resulting from the collaboration. Financial details of the partnership were not disclosed.

Vipergen's Cellular Binder Trap Enrichment^® (cBTE) technology is the first and only platform for screening DNA-encoded small-molecule libraries inside living cells. The technology is designed to accelerate and improve the success rate for discovering novel, high-quality small molecules against protein targets of interest, including challenging targets that are difficult to express and purify in an active form.

"We are looking forward to the partnership with Vipergen and to building on its new technology for screening DNA-encoded libraries under physiologically relevant conditions of living cells for the development of new products in health and agriculture," said Monika Lessl, SVP and Head of Corporate R&D and Social Innovation at Bayer.

"We are very pleased to partner with Bayer, a life sciences leader in human health and agriculture," said Nils Hansen, PhD, Chief Executive Officer of Vipergen. "We look forward to applying our Cellular Binder Trap Enrichment^® technology to screen DNA-encoded libraries in living cells to support the development of new drugs and sustainable crop-protection solutions."