Achievements

BioQuest's expertise is composed of highly skilled, experienced professionals who provide an outstanding blend of commercial and scientific know-how.  The result has been an impressive track record that we're extremely proud of.

One of the keys to our success has been the creation of very lean companies with an unwavering focus on the lead indication or primary opportunity for each technology.  The businesses that we've been involved in have remained highly focues, and our expertise and extensive network of experts have allowed scientists and inventors to continue to focus on what they do best.  We minimize infrastructure requirements by sharing resources across multiple programs, and we maximize the benefits gained from the talent of both the scientists and management.  This has allowed us to consistently accelerate development timelines.

Our most recent achievement was the work that we did with NeuroMedix Inc., a biotechnology and pharmaceutical company focused on developing novel therapeutics for neuroinflammatory disorders.

NeuroMedix Inc. was founded by BioQuest in February 2005, listed on the TSX Venture Exchange in January 2006, and ultimately acquired by Transition Therapeutics Inc. in March 2007.

BioQuest founded NeuroMedix for the purpose of rapidly identifying and developing a lead drug candidate for the treatment of neuroinflammatory disorders from a class of small molecules licensed from Northwestern University.  BioQuest then assembled a highly experienced management team and board of directors, who led the company with BioQuest's assistance to an Initial Public Offering on the TSX Venture Exchange.

Subsequent to taking the company public, BioQuest continued to work closely with the NeuroMedix management team to design and manage the pre-clinical development program, including identification, selection and negotiation of contracts with consultants, CROs and CMOs.  In addition, BioQuest was charged with managing the patent portfolio to ensure tha tthe maximum possible value was captured from the technology.

Some of our specific accomplishments with NeuroMedix Inc. include:

• Successfully raising $500K in seed financing
• Assembling a formal management team and a board of directors that included prominent members of the Canadian and US biotechnology industries
• Preparing a preliminary development plan in preparation for the IPO
• Successfully completing the IPO and raising gross proceeds of $3.3 million
• Designing a ful pre-clinical trial program for Minozac, with Alzheimer's disease as the lead indication
• Demonstrating the efficacy of the company's lead candidate, Minozac, in an animal model of traumatic brain injury as a follow-on indication to Alzheimer's disease
• Manufacturing Minozac under cGMP conditions in multi-kg amounts through a CMO
• Completing toxicology and safety pharmacology studies through a CRO
• Filing several patent applications to protect Mnozac, related compounds, and their uses in neuroinflammatory disorders
• Successfully advancing the development program to CTA/IND preparation within 20 months of the initial license agreement, building significant value for all stakeholders and advancing Northwestern University's technology

With GMP manufacturing and pre-clinical toxicology and safety pharmacology studies completed, Minozac was poised to enter Phase I clinical trials upon filing a CTA with Health Canada.

At that point, Transition Therapeutics entered into negotiations and ultimately acquired NeuroMedix in March 2007.  BioQuest was a key player in the transaction which was valued at approximately $11.1 million at the time of the offer.  For more information about NeuroMedix and this program, please visit Transition Therapeutics' web site at www.transitiontherapeutics.com.

 

Prior to the inception of BioQuest, our business model was successfully employed by the founders of the company in advancing the development of a technology and creating value for the shareholders of the company. A new company was founded in 2004 in order to focus efforts on the rapid development of a technology that had been previously held by another corporation.

Value Creation - $12.9 Million to $48.5 Million in 29 Months

BioQuest's founders were on the team that formed that new company and raised an additional $5.9 million to develop the technology, with the intent of selling the company or taking it public within a two year timeframe. During that time, the company was managed using the virtual model that formed the basis of BioQuest. Within 18 months, the company was sold to a public biotech company with the resources to advance the technology through clinical trials. This equity-based transaction was valued at just over $20 million at that time. Within 10 months of the transaction, the value of the shares more than doubled to over $48 million, generating significant returns for the shareholders at a compound annual growth rate of over 73% in less than two and a half years.

Since its own inception, BioQuest has created licensing arrangements for new medical technologies that have formed the basis of two new companies. BioQuest was able to successfully:

• Search out and identify viable leading-edge research from major North American universities
• Incorporate companies to house the technologies
• Negotiate licensing arrangements with the universities that owned the technologies
• Raise private equity to fund the companies
• Negotiate and finalize research agreements to develop the technologies

BioQuest has provided operational management for the drug development programs and the intellectual property portfolios for each of these companies.

For more information on these companies and the technologies that they are developing, please visit our clients' websites.