Pain remains a significant public health issue with two-thirds of patients achieving little to no pain relief from the myriad of currently available pharmacotherapies and dosing regimens. The use of opioid (e.g. morphine) pharmacotherapies produces several rewarding and reinforcing side effects, which result in the drugs’ diversion to abuse settings. Glial cells have been found to play a critical role in initiating and maintaining increased nociception in response to peripheral nerve injury. The opioids-induced glial cell activation attenuates opioid-induced pain suppression and enhances the development of opioid tolerance and dependence, the drug reward, and other negative side effects such as respiratory depression. We are interested in employing structure-based drug design and high-throughput screening techniques to identify novel small-molecule inhibitors of the cell surface receptors that regulate glial cell activation. The identified agents will potentially serve as therapeutics that suppresses opioid-dependence and tolerance.

Fig (Left) Potentiation of opioid analgesics by targeting the TLR4-mediated glial activation. (A) Opioids activate glia by triggering the signal transduction mediated by the TLR4 (dimeric form in complex with MD-2), resulting in the release of cytokine intercellular mediator, interleukin-1 (IL-1), and suppressing the desired opioid-induced neuronal analgesia effect. (B) In the presence of the antagonists of the TLR4-signaling, such as inhibitors of the critical TLR4 homodimerization or the TLR4/MD-2 interactions, glia stay in the resting state. Opioids (red star) cause analgesia by binding to opioid receptors (orange hexagon). (Right) Designs of peptide antagonists of the TLR4/MD-2 binding based on the TLR4-binding region of MD-2.

As part of recent efforts to expand cooperation in health, the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) is interested in learning more about the spectrum of biomedical research and expertise in the Russian Federation. In particular, efforts focusing on detection of drug resistant tuberculosis and discovery / development of new drugs to treat tuberculosis are among the highest research priorities.

Steven Smith, Director of the NIH/NIAID Office of Global Research, Dr Barbara Laughton (NIH/NIAID) and Gail Cassell (Eli Lilly) visited the ISTC offices in Moscow on Tuesday, 17 November 2009. The goal of the meeting was to present the respective programs and to better understand the science underway for new antibiotic development by meeting with several renowned investigators in Moscow during their visit at ISTC. As a part of the meeting Quantum delivered a presentation concerning our anti-tuberculosis drug candidate.

NIH distributes $170M in grants among non-US research organizations every year. Most of the money come to the US collaborators, though there are grants available to non-US residents as well (though fewer in numbers). NIAID leads the anti-tuberculosis effort and is involved in a great number of collaborative projects. The latest project is performed together with Bill&Melinda Gates foundation and resulted in creation of a comprehensive online TB research database http://tbdb.org. NIAID funds screening of compound libraries (the statistics shows roughly 1% hit rate, AID 1949: 101k compounds tested, 1594active; AID 1626: 215k compounds tested, 2044compounds found active).

Eli Lilly has also presented its non-profit anti-TB initiative. Gail Cassell of EL highlighted a scary situation with XDR TB, originally identified in 2006 and by now comprising up to 30-50% cases in some regions of South Africa and India. 30% HIV-positive patients with XDR TB are dead within a few months. The world's R&D spendings against TB are around $150M/year. With new drugs costs approaching 1B, the current budget hardly allows for getting a single new drug in 5-10years. This is in spite of the fact that XDR TB treatment would require a cocktail of a few novel and highly efficient drugs.

QUANTUM drug discovery platform is developed with the idea of bringing down the drug discovery costs and may well be the lacking tool to bring up the long awaited, cheap and effective medications against TB

Moscow, October, 28 2008

Quantum Pharmaceuticals announce drug discovery collaboration with Children's Cancer Institute Australia's (CCIA). Under the terms of the agreement Quantum Pharmaceuticals gets access to CCIA in-house disease target data. Quantum Pharmaceuticals will contribute its technological breakthroughs and expertise in small molecule drug discovery to feed the portfolio of CCIA with new drug candidates. CCIA is to further develop the discovered inhibitors. The targets and financial terms were not disclosed.

About Quantum Pharmaceuticals

Quantum Pharmaceuticals is a drug discovery company based in Moscow, Russia specializing in small molecule screening and design through the use of its proprietary technology platform.

About CCIA

Children's Cancer Institute Australia's (CCIA) vision is to save the lives of all children with cancer and eliminate their suffering.Our mission is to be a leader in preventing cancer, to find new ways of curing cancer in children through world-class research, to ensure the best possible quality of life for these children and their families, to share the vision with others and to increase awareness, participation and funding.

Moscow, October, 20 2008

Quantum Pharmaceuticals and University of Pittsburgh announced a drug discovery collaboration in HIV sphere. Under the terms of agreement Quantum Pharmaceuticals gets access to the target data from University of Pittsburgh. Quantum Pharmaceuticals will apply its industry leading computational technology to discover novel small molecule inhibitors for this target. The University is to provide biological expertise and further develop the discovered inhibitors. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
About Quantum Pharmaceuticals
Quantum Pharmaceuticals is a drug discovery company based in Moscow, Russia specializing in small molecule screening and design through the use of its proprietary technology platform.
About University of Pittsburgh
Founded in 1787 the University of Pittsburgh has evolved into an internationally recognized center of learning and research. The University’s 12,000 employees, including 3,800 full-time faculty members, serve about 34,000 students through the programs of 15 undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools.

Quantum Pharmaceuticals announce drug discovery collaboration with Fox Chase Cancer Center Under the terms of agreement Quantum Pharmaceuticals will apply its state-of-the-art in-house drug discovery technology to discover novel small molecule inhibitors in cancer area. The targets and financial terms were not disclosed.

Fox Chase Cancer Center is one of the US nation's first comprehensive cancer centers designated by the National Cancer Institute in 1974. Fox Chase's activities include basic, clinical and prevention research; detection and treatment of cancer; and community outreach programs.
Researchers at Fox Chase investigate problems that range from understanding the fundamental mechanisms of biomolecular reactions all the way to the treatment of neoplastic diseases in the clinic.

About Quantum Pharmaceuticals.

Quantum Pharmaceuticals is a drug discovery company based in Moscow, Russia specializing in small molecule screening and design through the use of its proprietary technology platform