Canada-based pharmaceutical company Quest PharmaTech has formed a strategic alliance with IntelligentNano, a spin-off company from the Canadian National Research Council’s National Institute for Nanotechnology.
As part of the alliance, the two groups have created a water soluble nano-formulation of Quest’s SL052 technology, which has the potential to address a wider range of clinical needs than Quest’s current formulation of SL052.
The alliance between Quest and IntelligentNano was forged to explore the potential of nanotechnology to provide a multiplicity of biocompatible drug delivery systems for clinical applications of Quest’s SonoLight technology platform.
Current SonoLight photosensitizer and sonosensitizer formulations are based upon liposomal drug delivery systems which target the drug to the desired sites of photodynamic or sonodynamic therapies. Quest intends to initiate a series of preclinical studies with these new formulations and arrive at a clinical plan for Quest’s second cancer indication.
The strategic alliance between Quest and IntelligentNano was made possible by financial and strategic support from the National Research Council’s industrial research assistance program.
Madi Madiyalakan, CEO of Quest, said: The fulfillment of a second tier of targetable, water-soluble nano-formulations of the SonoLight compounds represents major progress in the adaptation of Hypocrellin-based photodynamic and sonodynamic therapy to a wide spectrum of clinical needs including cancer treatment.