Sussex Research Laboratories Inc. / Queen’s University collaboration receives support to develop novel small molecule therapies for COVID-19

Sussex Research Laboratories Inc. (Ottawa, Canada) today announced that Queen’s University and the Southeastern Ontario Academic Medical Organization (SEAMO) has awarded grants for two COVID-19 Rapid Response collaborations between Queen’s University (Dr. Stephen Archer; Department of Medicine, Dr. Gerald Evans; Department of Medicine; and Dr. Victor Snieckus; Department of Chemistry) and Sussex Research Laboratories Inc. for applications entitled “Synthesis and preclinical testing of novel small molecules therapies for COVID-19”.

The project is directed towards studying COVID-19 in mice and in vitro in cells. The COVID-19 collaboration is to be broken into three parts – synthesis (Snieckus/Sussex Research), in vitro studies (Archer/Evans) and in vivo studies (Archer/Evans). As outlined in both grants, the project is expected to combine Sussex Research Laboratories Inc.’s expertise in the synthesis of stable isotope-labeled pharmaceutical active ingredients (API) with that of the Snieckus team’s world class capabilities in organic synthetic chemistry.

According to Dr. Brady Clark, President & CEO of Sussex Research Laboratories Inc., “As industrial partner on the project, Sussex Research Laboratories Inc. is very pleased to participate in this project. We feel very privileged to work with the Queen’s University team led by the esteemed Professors Archer, Evans and Snieckus. It’s our hope that we can contribute in a meaningful way to the world’s COVID-19 knowledge-base.”

Sussex Research Laboratories inc. will play a key role in the design, bulk synthesis and characterization of stable isotope-labeled molecules and intermediates for synthesis of deuterated drugs and assist with scaling up synthesis to facilitate toxicological studies.