TSX Venture: QPT
EDMONTON, April 14 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ - Quest
PharmaTech Inc. (TSX-V: QPT) ("Quest" or the "Company"), a
pharmaceutical company developing and commercializing products for
the treatment of cancer, today announced a clinical development
arrangement with U.S. based Hemispherx Biopharma Inc. to evaluate
the clinical utility of combining Quest's antibody immunotherapy
technology with Hemispherx's immune activator in a thirty patient
clinical trial.
Under the terms of the agreement the costs of the clinical trial
will be shared equally by Quest and Hemispherx. In addition,
Hemispherx will provide appropriate technical expertise and
relevant data to support the regulatory process necessary to
conduct the clinical trial. Hemispherx has also agreed to store and
maintain clinical supply inventory of Oregovomab at their state of
the art manufacturing facility in New
Brunswick.
"This collaborative clinical study is indicative of our
progression as a cancer immunotherapy company and we look forward
to working with Hemispherx in the conduct of this important
clinical trial to evaluate the utility of our product in
combination with Ampligen", said Dr. Madi
R. Madiyalakan, Quest's Chief Executive Officer. The Company
is in negotiation with various investigators in Canada and the U.S. to initiate this clinical
study in the coming months.
About Hemispherx Biopharma Inc.
Based in Philadelphia,
Hemispherx Biopharma is a biopharmaceutical company engaged in
clinical development, manufacture and sale of new drugs for the
treatment of viral diseases and serious debilitating disorders. Its
flagship products include Alferon N Injection, Alferon LDO and the
experimental therapeutics Ampligen and Oragens.
Ampligen is a double -stranded RNA immune activating therapeutic
that interacts uniquely with TLR 3 pathway and is biologically
active in multiple clinical conditions. Ampligen is currently in
clinical development most notably for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, but
also, West Nile Virus and SARS. A new cancer initiative is also
being undertaken by Hemispherx. Recent preclinical studies
published by Quest's clinical advisor Dr. Christopher Nicodemus, MD, FACP indicated that
Ampligen could potentially be used as a vaccine enhancer for cancer
immunotherapy including with Quest's antibody technology.
About Quest PharmaTech Inc.
Quest is a publicly traded, Alberta-based biotechnology company committed
to the development and commercialization of oncology product
candidates. It is developing a series of products for the treatment
of cancer based on its pipeline of SonoLight compounds and
monoclonal antibodies which target certain tumor antigens that are
presented in a variety of cancers. Quest believes that by combining
these antibodies with other cancer therapies such as chemotherapy,
photodynamic therapy or radioimmuno-therapy, it can potentially
further complement and enhance treatment outcomes compared to
antibody treatment alone.
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SOURCE Quest PharmaTech Inc.