Q-State Biosciences and Vertex Pharmaceuticals Enter into Multi-Year Drug Discovery Collaboration

Q-State Biosciences, Inc. today announced that the company has entered into a strategic collaboration with Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ: VRTX) to discover drugs using Q-State’s novel Optopatch™ platform. Under the terms of the deal, Q-State will receive upfront and research support, and is eligible to receive research, development and sales milestones, and royalties on drug sales. The companies will collaborate for at least two years.

In the collaboration, Q-State will use its proprietary drug discovery platform to develop novel cell-based assays that the companies will use to identify compound candidates. The Q-State platform combines cutting edge technologies that use induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) to mimic disease in cells and a unique Optopatch™ all-optical electrophysiology system to measure differences between normal and diseased nerve cells. Vertex is responsible for all development and commercialization activities resulting from the collaboration.

“This partnership is a fantastic opportunity for Q-State to apply its unique drug discovery platform to help patients and their families,” said Jonathan J. Fleming, President & CEO of Q-State. “We believe that our technology platform, and particularly our Optopatch™ system, provides a new approach to finding therapeutics for neurological diseases; and we are very excited to be embarking on this collaboration with Vertex.”

About Q-State Biosciences
Q-State Biosciences is an integrated drug discovery company based in Cambridge, MA. The company combines innovative stem cell and DNA editing capabilities with proprietary optogenetics technology to build highly relevant cellular models of human disease derived directly from patients. The predictive potential of patient-derived models, and the in-depth analytical reach of Optopatch™ measurements, serve as powerful drug discovery tools for neurological disorders. In addition to this collaboration, Q-State is using its platform for drug discovery in a number of different therapeutic domains, including epilepsy, chronic pain, ALS and other neurological diseases. For more information, please visit www.qstatebio.com.

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