VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Dec. 18, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Qu Biologics Inc., a private clinical stage biopharmaceutical company developing Site Specific Immunomodulators (SSIs), a novel platform of immunotherapies designed to restore innate immune function, is pleased to announce it is receiving advisory services and research and development funding from the National Research Council of Canada Industrial Research Assistance Program (NRC IRAP) to quickly move forward the potential application of Qu’s lung-directed SSI, QBKPN, to prevent and treat infection with SARS-CoV-2, the virus causing COVID-19. Unlike traditional vaccines that direct the host adaptive immune response to a very specific antigen, Qu’s immunotherapy platform engages and trains the innate arm of the immune system that is responsible for providing the body’s first line of defense. Optimal innate immune defenses can efficiently contain and clear infection before it spreads and plays an essential role in also directing the adaptive immune response against new infections. By training the innate immune system to protect the lungs, QBKPN is designed to protect the lungs not only against COVID-19, but also against a wide range of other bacterial and viral respiratory infections, like influenza. Importantly, since QBKPN activates innate immunity, the immune protection it provides would not lose efficacy if SARS-CoV-2 mutates, which is a risk with traditional vaccines that rely on antigen specificity.

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Qu Biologics Receives Funding for COVID-19 Prevention/Treatment Research with Qu’s Novel Immunotherapy Platform