Q BioMed Inc. (QBIO), a biotechnology acceleration company, announced  a partnership with Sphaera Pharma to develop a new and proprietary analog of QBM-001 for paediatric developmental nonverbal disorder.

"The goal of our collaboration with Sphaera Pharma is to put the patient first, especially since QBM-001 targets a rare subset of toddlers that become non- or minimally verbal for the rest of their lives," said Denis Corin, CEO of Q BioMed.

Sphaera Pharma will employ its proprietary and patented platform to produce a novel analog that aims to reduce or eliminate potential side effects and can reduce the amount of product a toddler needs to take on a daily basis.

"Sphaera Pharma's platform has had great success by providing improved safety and efficacy profile for drugs being developed by biopharma companies," said Dr. Sundeep Dugar, CEO of Sphaera Pharma. "Being able to employ our technology to ensure a safer product that could allow these toddlers to speak is inspiring to our whole team."

Preclinical testing of the new analog is currently underway and a final product is scheduled to be ready by the middle of October, putting Q BioMed on a path to file an IND towards the end of 2017 or the beginning of 2018.

The proprietary analog will also allow Q BioMed to apply for a global composition of matter patent for QBM-001, while still ensuring Q BioMed can pursue the 505(b)2 regulatory pathway in the US to ensure toddlers can possibly benefit from QBM-001 as soon as possible.

Q BioMed acquired a license to QBM-001 from ASDERA LLC in April of 2017.