Grünenthal and UniQuest partner on novel chronic neuropathic pain drugs

German family-owned drugmaker Grünenthal and UniQuest, Australian University of Queensland’s commercialization company, today announced a collaboration to develop novel, non-opioid drug therapies derived from the group of alpha-conotoxins as analgesic and disease modifying treatments of chronic neuropathic pain.

The project’s scientific foundation was laid at The University of Queensland (UQ) by Dr Richard Clark from the School of Biomedical Sciences in the Faculty of Medicine. The collaboration combines the expertise of UQ in target and peptide – specifically conotoxin – drug discovery and Grünenthal’s long-standing expertise in bringing innovative treatments to people living with pain worldwide.

Within the framework of the collaboration, UniQuest and Grünenthal intend to identify novel peptidic drug candidates and to progress them towards clinical development. Grünenthal will provide its expertise and technical capabilities in pain research and drug development, working closely with researchers from UQ and the University of Wollongong. Furthermore, Grünenthal will fund and coordinate the discovery activities and will assume full responsibility for the development of drug candidates derived from the collaboration. Financial terms were not disclosed.