Qrono's long-term oncology goal is to revolutionize cancer treatment with safer, more efficacious chemotherapy formulations. Qrono has created a new drug delivery platform by mathematically optimizing widely used biomaterials to provide sustained, local release of chemotherapy and autonomous targeting of key metastatic sites. QR206 uses this platform to deliver a highly potent tubulin inhibitor as an adjuvant therapy for head and neck cancer (HNSCC) enabling its safe use in chemoradiation. Qrono is collaborating with the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute to establish proof-of-concept for QR206. Planned studies will test QR206's drug delivery and activity in vitro and in vivo. In vitro dissolution studies are expected to confirm simulations for QR206 that predict 6-8 weeks of sustained drug release, thereby matching the duration of adjuvant radiation. Published data on tubulin inhibitors strongly suggest that the planned cell assays will demonstrate QR206âs activity against p53 wild-type HNSCC and thep53 mutant, which resists treatment with approved adjuvant therapies. Data generated from a luminescent xenograft model will track QR206âs distribution and anti-tumor activity over 4 weeks in live mice. Lymph node histology and serum samples will confirm that QR206 provides a uniquely safe and efficacious treatment for HNSCC through controlled and targeted chemotherapy. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVA
