VioQuest Pharamaceuticals Has the Bases Covered with Its Novel Business Plan
By David Savastano
Contributing Editor
Most companies concentrate in the pharmaceutical industry focus on either creating ingredients or finished drugs. Successfully developing ingredients provides steady revenue. The second approach, albeit a riskier one, is to create or acquire a blockbuster therapeutic drug.
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VQD-001 is currently in clinical trials at the Cleveland Clinic Taussig Cancer Center, and two PhaseI/IIa clinical trials for VQD-002 are expected to initiate in the first half of 2006 in both solid and liquid tumors.
 Daniel Greenleaf, president and CEO of VioQuest Pharmaceuticals, Inc. |
“We thought that bringing the two companies together would be synergistic and more attractive to investors by creating a chiral catalysis company and a therapeutics company,” Mr. Greenleaf said. “It has proved to be ideal. I see it as a game of singles and home runs. Chiral catalysis is a growing knowledge base, and provides the cash flow needed for our therapeutics business, where, if you can get a few really good hits, your value can go up tenfold. Of course, there is also the very tangible contribution that Chiral Quest makes in helping VioQuest with chemistry, analytical and formulation development. This is an additional valuable synergy for the two companies”
“Biotech startups issue stock to raise money, and if you issue too much, it becomes less attractive,” Mr. Greenleaf added. “Being cash flow positive, we don’t have to issue excess amounts of stock.”
The company’s success is quickly becoming noticed. VioQuest Pharmaceuticals was named among the “2005 Deloitte Technology Fast 500,” a collection of the 500 fastest growing technology companies in North America. Rankings are based on percentage revenue growth over five years, from 2000 to 2004.
“It is a tremendous honor to be selected as one of Deloitte’s 500 fastest growing technology companies in North America,” said Mr. Greenleaf. “This achievement is a testament to our commitment and dedicated efforts over the past five years in the further development and expansion of our proprietary chiral technology and contract process services’ offerings.
“The company’s growth further continued through 2005 with the acquisition of two targeted therapeutic oncology compounds, VQD-001 (sodium stibogluconate), a protein tyrosine phosphatase inhibitor, and VQD-002 (triciribine phosphate), a specific inhibitor of phosphorylated Akt,” Mr. Greenleaf added.
Forming Chiral Quest
Chiral Quest’s start traces back to Penn State University.
“Chiral Quest LLC was founded in 2000 by Professor Xumu Zhang at Pennsylvania State University based on his groundbreaking work in chiral catalysis,” said Dr. Michael Cannarsa, general manager of Chiral Quest, Inc. “Professor Zhang has spent more than 15 years studying chiral catalysis and building on and improving previous chemistry. Chiral Quest scientists have since worked closely with Professor Zhang to expand and improve the technology. An important contribution of the Chiral Quest scientists has been the development work to convert an ‘academic’ technology into a practical, commercial technology.”
The initial work was promising. Continued growth led to the restructuring of the company and the merger of Chiral Quest LLC and Surg II, Inc. – a public company with no operations – in February 2003. The company then moved to its present location in Monmouth Junction, NJ.
In late 2004, the company was again reorganized, and Chiral Quest became a wholly owned subsidiary of VioQuest Pharmaceuticals.
Chiral Quest has continued to supply a key component to the marketplace.
 Dr. Michael Cannarsa, general manager, Chiral Quest, Inc. |
“Chiral catalysts and intermediates developed by CQ facilitate the manufacture of APIs from early clinical development with supply of catalyst and screening services for process R&D,” Dr. Cannarsa said. “Commercial quantities are supplied as a drug candidate proceeds through clinical trials to ultimate market launch.”
In order to move the company forward, a strong management team has been formed. The team has many years of experience in the technology for commercializing chiral chemistry. Yaping Hong, PhD, senior vice president of R&D, was instrumental in the development of key chiral APIs for Sepracor while he was employed there from 1991-98. Dr. Cannarsa worked on Sharpless asymmetric epoxidation, one of the first chiral technologies to be commercialized. In fact, Professor K. Barry Sharpless, the 2001 Nobel Prize winner in chemisty and WM Keck Professor of Chemistry at The Scripps Research Institute, is the chairman of the Chiral Quest Scientific Advisory Board.
The most recent addition to the VioQuest team occurred in March, when Dr. Pamela Harris was selected as VioQuest’s chief medical officer (CMO). Dr. Harris brings to VioQuest extensive pharmaceutical industry knowledge and experience in clinical development and the regulatory approval process, particularly in the area of oncology.
 Chiral Quest Jiashan’s R&D facility near Shanghai, China. |
“Pamela’s extensive experience in the clinical development of new cancer drugs, combined with her unique insight on bringing drugs through the regulatory process, will help round out VioQuest’s leadership team and bring the clinical depth which is critical for the success of the company,” Mr. Greenleaf said.
Opportunities in China
China and the entire Asia-Pacific region has become a tremendous area of growth, and Chiral Quest has taken full advantage of its opportunities there. Chiral Quest has established a fully-owned and operated 4,000 square meter R&D facility, Chiral Quest Jiashan (CQJ), near Shanghai, China.
“China is becoming increasingly important for pharmaceutical R&D and manufacturing due to its highly educated workforce and low cost,” Dr. Cannarsa said. “CQJ acts as both a low cost R&D resource and technology transfer station to facilitate and oversee local China manufacturing.”
The company’s success in China has been due to good planning.
“Cultural differences can present challenges to Western companies doing business in China,” Dr. Cannarsa said. “Chiral Quest is fortunate to retain the services of several senior native Chinese managers who have had successful professional careers in the U.S. This diversity and understanding of the cultural issues from both sides provides Chiral Quest a significant advantage.”
The excellent growth of VioQuest Pharmaceuticals has put the company in solid position in both the ingredient and finished drug markets. Successfully opening up operations in China is another step in VioQuest’s end game. All things considered, VioQuest’s leadership team is continuing to hit home runs in the eyes of the market place.
