about

Drug discovery and development to advance new medicines targeting novel biology

QEDDI’s goal is to translate world-class academic research into small molecule drug development candidates for clinical trials.

our strengths

QEDDI can perform iterative cycles of medicinal chemistry and pharmacology to identify and optimise promising compound lead series against a defined target product profile (TPP) criteria to select a preclinical candidate.

Medicinal chemistry

  • Hit identification by various technologies such as High Throughput Screening, Fragment-based Drug Discovery, in silico screening and rational design
  • Rational drug design and synthesis of analogues
  • Structure Activity Relationship development
  • Hit-to-Lead and Lead Optimisation
  • Focused, chemoinformatics guided library synthesis

Pharmacology

  • Optimisation of compound potency and selectivity in biochemical and cell-based assays
  • Development of Pharmacokinetics and Pharmacodynamic relationships to support translation to humans
  • Evidence for efficacy in disease-relevant models
  • Development of biomarkers for evidence of target engagement

Preclinical candidate selection

  • Safety pharmacology
  • Pharmacokinetic and metabolite profiling
  • Early toxicity studies
  • Early pharmaceutical development and manufacturing assessment
  • Human dose prediction

Commercialisation

UniQuest, the commercialisation company of The University of Queensland (UQ), established QEDDI in 2016 to advance biomedical research into new candidate therapies to enable commercial partnerships and accelerate new drug development in unmet clinical needs.

UniQuest’s commercialisation track record positions UQ as the leader of research commercialisation in Australasia.

QEDDI undertakes a flexible approach to partnering including licensing, co-development and venture formation.

Collaborative drug discovery

QEDDI is focussed on collaborative drug discovery, aiming to translate innovative academic research towards clinical development for the treatment of unmet medical needs such as cancer, inflammatory disorders, and neurodegenerative diseases.

Academia is rich in novel target biology—targets that are generally too early to commercialise. QEDDI collaborates with academic researchers by providing high-quality and efficient drug discovery and industry-standard project management to advance academic research into small molecule drug candidates.

Enabling commercial partnerships

QEDDI aims to bridge the gap between academic research groups with potential therapeutic targets, and pharma or biotech companies seeking novel strategies for clinical development.

Drug Development QEDDI Uniquest Queensland Emory Drug Discovery Initiative About Enabling Commercial Partnerships

Benefits for all parties

Drug Development QEDDI Uniquest Queensland Emory Drug Discovery Initiative About Enabling Commercial Partnerships

Researchers

QEDDI works in collaboration with researchers providing hands-on drug discovery capabilities from industry-experienced scientists to unlock their disease discoveries in order to advance therapeutic concepts toward the clinic.

Drug Development QEDDI Uniquest Queensland Emory Drug Discovery Initiative About Enabling Commercial Partnerships

Government

QEDDI is fostering the growth of an innovative ecosystem for Queensland drug discovery research, attracting and retaining a highly skilled workforce.

Drug Development QEDDI Uniquest Queensland Emory Drug Discovery Initiative About Enabling Commercial Partnerships

Industry

QEDDI offers high-quality data packages for partnering opportunities from a pipeline of novel therapeutic, validated and de-risked drug leads based on innovative biological research.