BLUE BELL, Pa., Dec. 18 /PRNewswire/ -- TheraQuest Biosciences, Inc., a development stage pain management company today announced that it has completed a $3 million licensing and equity investment transaction with Wonpung Mulsan Co., LTD.
Najib Babul, PharmD, President and Chief Executive Officer of TheraQuest stated, “We are pleased to have completed this licensing and equity transaction with Wonpung. The funds from this transaction will be used to progress the development and testing of TQ-1015, our proprietary abuse deterrent, sustained release strong opioid and TQ-1011, our proprietary injectable formulation of ketoprofen.”
Doosik Yi, MBA, President of Wonpung noted, “We have decided to in-license a portfolio of pain products and take an equity stake in TheraQuest for several reasons. First, TheraQuest has an attractive and diversified portfolio of proprietary pain products for the treatment of pain, which is an area of high unmet need. Second, its management team has considerable expertise in the development of therapies for pain management. Finally, TheraQuest’s 505[b][2] business model significantly reduces the clinical and regulatory risk of drug development.”
About TQ-1015
TQ-1015 is a broad spectrum analgesic being developed for the treatment of chronic cancer and non-cancer pain. It is a once-a-day sustained release opioid in TheraQuest’s proprietary, abuse deterrent SECUREL(TM) 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 and oxymorphone, and it has a novel and well differentiated pharmacologic profile compared with other strong opioids. TQ- 1015 will compete with MS Contin(TM), OxyContin(TM), Duragesic(TM), Opana(TM) ER and short acting opioids.
About TQ-1011
TQ-1011 is a proprietary injectable formulation of the NSAID, ketoprofen. It is being developed for the management of moderate to severe postsurgical pain. TheraQuest has completed a randomized double-blind placebo and active controlled clinical trial of TQ-1011 in moderate to severe postsurgical pain. TQ-1011 was superior to placebo and the positive controls on all primary and secondary efficacy variables. The only injectable NSAID approved by the FDA is ketorolac, which was introduced 18 years ago. However, the clinical utility of ketorolac is limited due to its side effect profile and a short duration of action.
About TheraQuest
TheraQuest Biosciences, Inc. (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.
CONTACT: Najib Babul, PharmD, CEO, of TheraQuest Biosciences, Inc.,
inquiry@theraquestinc.com
Web site: http://www.theraquestinc.com/
