Licensing

In September, 2009, Quest acquired a pipeline of late-stage immunotherapy product candidates from Paladin Labs Inc. (TSX:PLB). The pipeline of product candidates consists of five monoclonal antibodies targeting certain tumor antigens that are presented in a variety of cancers. The first and most advanced of these product candidates is Oregovomab, an anti-CA125 antibody for the treatment of ovarian cancer patients that Quest will evaluate in combination with front-line chemotherapy. Quest also acquired anti-MUC1, anti-TAG72, anti-PSA and anti-CA19.9 antibodies that could potentially be used for the treatment of breast, lung, stomach, colorectal, pancreas and prostate cancer.

Strategic Partners

Partner for Formulation Development: 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 proprietary 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.

Partner for Manufacturing Development: Quest Pharmatech and the Alberta Research Council (ARC) have formed a strategic alliance to develop fermentation based technology to manufacture Hypocrellin B, one of the essential ingredients for SonoLight Technology. The ARC will undertake research to develop a semi-synthetic method for the manufacture of Hypocrellin B. If the project is successful, Quest will receive an exclusive license to the developed technology from the ARC to manufacture and commercialize HB based products including SL017 for dermatology and SL052 for oncology applications.