Two drug discovery initiatives for UniQuest

The commercialisation company of The University of Queensland (UQ), UniQuest, will be part of two separate drug discovery initiatives.

The first project, the Queensland Emory Drug Discovery Initiative (QEDDI), will help translate academic drug discovery into drug candidates. The initiative was brokered by UniQuest through discussions with the Emory Institute for Drug Development (EIDD) and Drug Innovation Ventures at Emory (DRIVE) in the US.

QEDDI will have the capability to perform drug discovery, medicinal chemistry and preclinical development to identify promising small molecule drug candidates and develop them to a stage where they may be of interest to pharmaceutical companies or investment companies for further development. It will thus accelerate efforts to target diseases such as cancer, diabetes, inflammatory disorders, neurodegenerative and infectious diseases.

The initiative has received over $16 million in funding over the next three years, coming from the Queensland Government as well as UQ (where it will be based) and UniQuest (who will manage it). UQ and UniQuest will provide additional funding over the next 10 years through a reinvestment of returns from commercialisation activities.

UniQuest has separately announced an agreement with the commercialisation company of University College London (UCL), UCL Business, to identify and support research projects between the two universities. Both companies will also provide funding support to help progress selected drug discovery projects with commercial potential to proof of concept stage.

UniQuest CEO Dr Dean Moss said both UQ and UCL have leading reputations in life science research. “Like UniQuest,” he said, “UCLB has a demonstrated track record in the commercialisation of life science projects, and this partnership is part of our overarching strategy of building critical mass in a drug discovery and development pipeline for commercialisation.”

UCLB Managing Director Cengiz Tarhan added that his company is “delighted to be working with UniQuest to identify joint projects in which we will collaborate, delivering new treatments to patients across the world”. Two initial projects, addressing the research areas of pain and epilepsy, will receive the proof of concept funding under the agreement.

The collaborative agreement has been supported by UK Trade & Investment.