BLUE BELL, Pa., June 22 /PRNewswire/ -- TheraQuest Biosciences, a development stage pain management company today announced that it has begun GMP manufacturing of TQ-1015, its proprietary abuse deterrent, sustained release opioid agonist. An U.S. IND application is scheduled for January, 2008. TQ-1015 is being developed using SECUREL(TM), TheraQuest’s proprietary abuse deterrent sustained release technology.
TQ-1015, a Broad Spectrum Analgesic(TM), is the only strong opioid in development that provides robust reversal of morphine tolerance in animals, attributed to its effects on central kappa opioid receptors. It has already demonstrated robust efficacy in various animal models of acute pain, inflammatory pain and neuropathic pain. TQ-1015 is five more potent than morphine.
Najib Babul, PharmD, President and Chief Executive Officer of TheraQuest stated, “We have a strong intellectual property portfolio for TQ-1015, including six pharmaceutical composition and method of use patent applications for the compound, and three patent applications for SECUREL(TM), our versatile, abuse deterrent extended release technology. TQ-1015’s robust efficacy, its ability to provide analgesia in morphine tolerant animals and its abuse deterrent formulation will provide significant competitive advantages in the $8.3 Billion U.S. opioid analgesic market.”
According to Dr. Richard Payne, Professor of Medicine and Director, Duke Institute on End of Life at Duke University, and formerly, President of the American Pain Society, “Sustained release opioids have emerged as the standard of care in the management of many patients with chronic cancer and non-cancer pain.” Payne further noted, “Unfortunately, many patients either fail to obtain complete pain relief with existing treatments or develop troublesome side effects. Clinicians therefore need alternative sustained release opioids in their tool kit to exploit this variability in response.”
Babul further noted, “We believe TheraQuest’s TQ-1015, with its unique pharmacologic profile combined with the abuse deterrent SECUREL(TM) technology will be an attractive product for clinicians and their patients for the management of chronic pain.”
About TQ-1015
TQ-1015 is being developed for the treatment of chronic cancer and non-cancer pain. It is a once-a-day sustained release opioid analgesic in TheraQuest’s proprietary, abuse deterrent drug delivery system. It cannot be easily crushed for inhalation or to obtain rapid euphoria from high blood levels when swallowed. It is also be exceedingly difficult for I.V. abusers to extract the active drug from the formulation using common solvents, including alcohol.
TQ-1015 is significantly more potent than current oral therapies, including morphine, oxycodone, oxymorphone and hydrocodone, and it has a novel and well differentiated pharmacologic profile compared with other strong opioids. Importantly, TQ-1015 reverses analgesic tolerance in morphine tolerant animals through a putative kappa opioid receptor effect. TQ-1015 will compete with MS Contin(TM), OxyContin(TM), Duragesic(TM), Opana(TM) and short acting opioids in the $8.3 Billion U.S. opioid market.
About TheraQuest
TheraQuest Biosciences, Inc. ( http://www.theraquestinc.com ) is a private, development-stage pain management company building a diversified portfolio of pharmaceutical products to address a critical area of unmet medical need. Despite their limitations, current treatments for acute and chronic pain yield worldwide sales in excess of $30 billion. The TheraQuest team has contributed to the development of numerous analgesics approved in the U.S. over the past 20 years. TheraQuest’s strategy is to use its expertise to identify, develop and commercialize product candidates with strong market potential that have lower development costs and reduced regulatory risk than new chemical entities. TheraQuest is headquartered in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania.
TheraQuest is funded in part by BioAdvance, the Biotechnology Greenhouse of Southeastern Pennsylvania and Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Southeastern Pennsylvania.
TheraQuest Biosciences
CONTACT: Najib Babul, PharmD, CEO of TheraQuest Biosciences, Inc.,inquiry@theraquestinc.com
Web site: http://www.theraquestinc.com/
