Q BioMed, ASDERA Enter Licensing Agreement

Q BioMed Inc. and ASDERA LLC have entered a licensing agreement providing Q BioMed with worldwide rights to ASDERA's ASD-002, which is being developed to treat a rare pediatric nonverbal disorder. Q Biomed has global rights to develop and commercialize the drug in the rare pediatric disease market. Among the more than 60,000 U.S. children who develop autism spectrum disorders (ASD) every year, 20,000 become nonverbal or lose the ability to speak, potentially requiring assisted living.  

Research has indicated that certain ion channels were not active enough in this targeted population. ASD-002 is designed to improve this age-specific condition by activating these ion channels. If the second year of life treatment window is missed, many of these children may lose the ability to speak while others may never start to speak at all.

Denis Corin, chief executive officer of Q BioMed said, "Given the severity of this disorder, and the immense emotional toll on these children and their families, our goal is to move the product forward quickly by using all the regulatory tools available to us to expedite the advancement of this drug candidate. We are very excited about the potential of ASD-002 and hopefully this will allow thousands of children each year to develop speech and live independent and productive lives."