SALT LAKE CITY--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Q Therapeutics, Inc. announced today that it has been awarded the
2007 Utah Innovation Award for
Biotechnology/Pharmaceuticals. The
award honors Q's development of Q-Cells(TM), a cell therapy product
used to regenerate the
Myelin sheath on neurons that have lost their
insulating myelin layer due to disease or injury. The innovation has
applicability to a wide variety of diseases and injuries of the
Central Nervous System including
Multiple Sclerosis, white matter
stroke, spinal cord injury, and other demyelinating diseases of the
human central nervous system. Q has exclusively licensed the
technology underlying the Q-Cells from the University of Utah. The
award was conferred by the Utah Technology Council in collaboration
with Stoel Rives, LLC.
"We are very pleased and honored to have our scientific team and
their achievements recognized in this fashion," said Deborah Eppstein
Ph.D., President and CEO of Q Therapeutics. "This award comes on the
heels of years of scientific research and development in the labs of
both Q Therapeutics and our scientific co-founder Mahendra S. Rao,
M.D. Ph.D. We look forward to moving this work into the clinic and
being able utilize it in the treatment of several debilitating
diseases for which there currently are no restorative therapies."
According to Brian Cummings, Director of the University of Utah
Technology Commercialization Office, "The Q-Cells technology holds the
promise of a new standard in cell-based therapy. The University is
very committed to seeing the work of its researcher's progress in the
area of stem-cell research. The recognition of Q-Cells as the best
Utah biotechnology innovation for 2007 confirms that our commitment to
the development of cell-therapy technologies is well founded and it
will continue."
About Q Therapeutics, Inc.
Q Therapeutics is an emerging biopharmaceutical company,
venture-backed and privately held, located in Salt Lake City, Utah.
The Company is developing products to treat debilitating diseases of
the central nervous system. The Company's first product, Q-Cells(TM),
is a cell-based therapeutic intended to replace the insulating myelin
on damaged neurons and thus regenerate normal function of these
neurons. Q-Cells are applicable to a wide range of demyelinating
diseases, including multiple sclerosis (MS), cerebral palsy, spinal
cord injury and white matter stroke. Clinical trials are targeted to
commence in 2008 in Transverse Myelitis, a rapidly paralyzing,
inflammatory spinal cord injury related to MS. Q's pipeline includes
other cell products for treating diseases including Parkinson's and
Alzheimer's Diseases and ALS, as well as Peripheral neuropathies. For
more information contact Deborah Eppstein Ph.D., President & CEO, Q
Therapeutics, Inc. at 801-582-5400.
Q Therapeutics, Inc.
Deborah Eppstein, Ph.D., 801-582-5400 ext. 110
President & CEO
Source:
Q Therapeutics, Inc.
