Released on: October 30, 2007, 8:25 am

Press Release Author: Olga Druzhinina

Industry: Biotech

Press Release Summary:
New approach to computational toxicity and side effects prediction is recently
reported.



Press Release Body: The inability to predict toxicity accurately and early in drug
development resulted in $8 billion losses in the pharmaceutical industry in 2003,
approximately one-third of the all drug failures costs in one year. Even if a drug
successfully obtains FDA approval and reaches the market, it remains vulnerable to
costly safety issues. That is why computer aided toxicology prediction is of growing
interest both to the industry and for government regulators.

Quantum Pharmaceuticals has recently reported a new approach to computational
toxicity and side effects prediction at 4th International Symposium on Computational
Methods in Toxicology and Pharmacology Integrating Internet Resources (CMTPI-2007).

The current computer-aided prediction of toxicity is based on either knowledge-based
or QSAR-based programs. It means that reliable predictions cannot be made for
molecules of novel chemical classes, that a structurally distinct from the molecules
known to the developers of current prediction technologies.

The new technology is developed on an entirely different paradigm: Quantum
Pharmaceuticals' researchers established a relation between toxicological properties
of any molecule and its activity against selected classes of human proteins, rather
than structural descriptors, thus avoiding difficulties of common approaches.

The approach is used in Quantum Pharmaceuticals' q-Tox proprietary drug discovery
technology platform and being applied for research collaborations and contract
services.

Selected parameters and endpoints predicted by q-Tox are: human Maximum Recommended
Daily Dose (MRDD), human Maximum Recommended Therapeutic Dose (MRTD), TD50 (human
tumorigenic dose rate 50), various side effects (e.g. Behavioral (hallucinations,
distorted perceptions, etc), Cardiac (pulse rate, etc.) and many others); mouse,
rat, dog, and rabbit median lethal dose (LD50), etc.

For scientific publication "Biological Spectra Analysis: Linking Biological
Activity Profiles to Molecular Toxicity\" ) and more other details please go to
toxicity
prediction page


About Quantum Pharmaceuticals

Quantum Pharmaceuticals develops and markets an original computational drug
discovery platform. The core of the computer aided drug design technology is a
reliable method to calculate protein-ligand binding affinity. Hit identification
module of Quantum molecular modeling technology provides very high hit rate - from
10% to 50% depending on the complexity of the protein target. Quantum technology
platform allows also to make reliable Pharmacokinetic and Toxicology predictions at
the very early stage based on the molecular structure of compound only.
Quantum Pharmaceuticals has partnerships with leading chemical providers, which
enable o work with libraries of several millions of deliverable or synthesizable
compounds. Quantum Pharmaceuticals currently have projects in hit/lead
identification and optimization with companies and organization around the world,
including Top Pharma and Academia.
Quantum Pharmaceuticals is offering drug discovery collaborations on the basis of
Quantum Pharmaceuticals' inhibitors with predicted activity for the variety of
therapeutic targets and proper predicted ADMET profile. The contract research
services are also available.
The technology platform is applicable virtually in any therapeutic area. It had been
already successfully implemented in antibacterial research (FtsZ target), antiviral
(HIV-1 integrase), COPD (Human Neutrophil Elastase), oncology (IGFR and other
kinases) and many others.
The technology is also applicable in discovery of novel bioactive chemical entities
and toxicity research in many others areas, such as crop protection, environmental
risk assessment, food supplements, cosmetics etc.

www.q-pharm.com



Web Site: http://www.q-pharm.com

Contact Details: 125171 Kosmonavta Volkova 6a-606
Moscow
Russia
Tel: +7(495) 156 1561
Fax: +7(495) 150 8332
www.q-pharm.com
olga.druzhinina@q-pharm.com