The agreement grants the exclusive right to Oxiquant to develop and market technology aimed at preventing adverse side effects linked to chemotherapy developed in the laboratory of Ed Neuwelt, M.D., professor of neurology and neurosurgery in the OHSU School of Medicine. Neuwelt also operates and conducts research at the Portland Veterans Affairs Medical Center. Subsequent to the license agreement, Oxiquant executed an agreement to merge with Adherex Technologies, Inc., Ottawa, Canada. Upon approval of the merger by the shareholders of both Adherex and Oxiquant, Mark C. Rogers, M.D., M.B.A., chairman and chief executive officer of Innovative Drug Delivery Systems, Inc., will become chairman of the board of the newly merged company that will operate under the name Adherex Technologies, Inc. Fred Mermelstein, Ph.D., president and founder of Oxiquant, Inc. and director of venture capital at Paramount Capital will also serve on the board of directors. John Brooks, CFA, will continue in his role as chief executive officer of Adherex.
The technology licensed to Oxiquant revolves around the research of Neuwelt, the recipient of funding from the National Institutes of Health and the Department of Veterans Affairs. Neuwelt has focused his studies on the Blood Brain Barrier Program at OHSU and on the discovery of therapeutics that protect against the adverse side effects associated with certain chemotherapy drugs. For example, his group is studying a chemoprotectant, N-Acetylcysteine (NAC), for the prevention of bone marrow suppression and mucosal damage linked to chemotherapies. Neuwelt's lab has also discovered how to admin
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Contact: Jim Newman
newmanj@ohsu.edu
503-494-8231
Oregon Health & Science University
17-Oct-2002