PharmaBlock Sciences, Inc., a chemistry product and service provider for pharmaceutical R&D processes, has signed a strategic partnership agreement with Ascentage Pharma, a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing therapies for cancer, chronic hepatitis B  (CHB), and age-related diseases to advance drug development and manufacturing.

PharmaBlock has served as long-term CDMO partner to Ascentage to advance development projects from discovery to preclinical and clinical manufacturing.

PharmaBlock will now serve as a preferred provider, and the two companies will continue to expand CDMO cooperation for current and future projects. PharmaBlock will support Ascentage in accelerating its drug development pipeline with R&D input and manufacturing capacity, along with its technological solutions.

Ascentage Pharma focuses on developing therapeutics that inhibit protein-protein interactions to block apoptosis or programmed cell death. The company’s pipeline includes eight clinical drug candidates, including highly potent Bcl-2, and dual Bcl-2/Bcl-xL inhibitors, as well as candidates aimed at IAP and MDM2-p53 pathways, and next-generation tyrosine kinase inhibitors.

Ascentage is conducting more than 40 Phase I/II clinical trials in the U.S., Australia, and China. HQP1351, the company's core drug candidate developed for the treatment of drug-resistant chronic myeloid leukemia (CML), has been granted an Orphan Drug Designation and a Fast Track Designation by the U.S. FDA, and an NDA for the drug has been submitted in China. To date, Ascentage was granted a total of eight ODDs from the FDA for four of its drug candidates.