Neuroquest and Concept 2 Clinic Inc. Announces Results Of Extensive Market Research

May 24, 2016: NeuroQuest Inc. (https://www.neuroquest.ca), and its joint-venture partner Concept 2 Clinic Inc. (https://www.concept2clinic.com) (together, “Company”) today announced that the results from an extensive market research highlight the need for new treatment options for neuropathic pain (NP). Details from the study indicated that currently approved drugs have low efficacy and/or result in severe side effects, especially for orally given drugs, resulting in widespread unmet needs among a large section of patients.

The topical pain market presents an attractive market entry proposition, primarily due to the segment market growth and lower competitive barriers. The topical pain market, a segment of the transdermal drug market, is estimated to grow by 9.7% CAGR, outpacing the global pain market, which is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 3%.

This research has shown that the Company’s lead NP drug candidates, NQ1123 and PN34, in the topical segment, represents strong candidates to overcome many of the current therapeutic limitations of neuropathic pain management primarily due to minimal side effects, strong safety profile, and multi-mechanism mode of action, which not only improves efficacy but could make NQ1123 and PN34 the only multi-mechanism topical drug products on the market. “Recent publications (See Reference) suggest that pain is a multi-mechanism phenomenon. These observations are consistent with the fact that successfully approved drugs for pain is multi-mechanistic, and there have been numerous failures of pipeline drugs developed with a single mechanism approach.” said Robert Cervelli, NeuroQuest’s Chief Executive Officer. “This market research concluded that, based on historical deals in the topical segment, with our unique multi-mechanism mode of action, NQ1123 and PN34 could command a larger valuation and upfront cash between $10M and $100M USD.”

“PN-34 natural bioactive has minimal toxicity and is classified as Generally Recognized as Safe, GRAS, as defined by US-FDA. PN34 as a topical product, do not compete with the crowded oral market. In fact, pain treatment plan have increasingly suggested that the combination of both topical and oral products, in order to increase their effectiveness” said YC Lee, Ph.D., Concept 2 Clinic’s Managing Director. “Our formulations were specifically designed and developed to provide both fast acting and long lasting pain relieving effect throughout the day. The Company anticipates initiating a safety/efficacy clinical study within Q3 2016, with natural product application to Health Canada planned for mid- 2017.”

Reference: Minett, et al 2015: Endogenous opioids contribute to insensitivity to pain in humans and mice lacking sodium channel Na 1.7, Nature Communications 6, Article number: 8967

About Neuroquest Inc. and Concept 2 Clinic Inc.

NeuroQuest Inc. (http://www.neuroquest.ca) and its joint-venture partner, Concept 2 Clinic Inc. (https://concept2clinic.com), are Canadian biotechnology companies located in Toronto and Halifax focused on developing prescription drugs from enhanced chemical modifications to natural bioactives for the treatment of neurological diseases. NeuroQuest and Concept 2 Clinic are seeking new approaches to modulation of nerve transmission with clinical applications particularly for neuropathic pain. The company focuses on a first-in-class small molecule drug discovery platform that is based on bioactives discovered in plant extracts showing efficacy for neuropathic pain. The company has a proprietary position in both natural bioactives for the consumer health market and new chemical entities (NCE’s) for out-license to the pharmaceutical industry.

For further information, please visit the Company’s website at www.neuroquest.ca;