QuestCap (CSE:QSC) provided the market with an update today on its recent COVID-19 focused investments. The company has deployed capital into a number of technologies, programs and products that support the fight against the coronavirus.
QuestCap will be hosting an investor webinar to provide further insight into their work and answer questions on Wednesday June 17th at 4pm EST.
Sunnybrook Hospital’s Research Group for Emerging and Respiratory Viruses (SERV)
QuestCap has made a founding investment of $1 million in tranches into Sunnybrook Hospital’s Research Group for Emerging and Respiratory Viruses (SERV), in return QuestCap will receive 3.5% royalty on any revenue earned on SARS-CoV-2 research.
The SERV team will be focused on the three following areas of research:
- Virus Transmission: SERV has launched a simulation study to better understand how SAR-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, spreads in the environment.
- Antivirals & Vaccines: Over the last two months the SERV team has ramped up research in the Level 3 containment lab at the University of Toronto.
- Virus Genomics: SERV’s research to sequence the virus has garnered international attention, the virus generated at Sunnybrook is the main virus used in academic containment level 3 labs across Canada.
Sinai Health System’s COVID-19 Surveillance Testing
QuestCap has invested $0.5M in tranches to Sinai Health System to support research into COVID-19.
The goal of the research is to gain a better understanding of the prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 infection and immune responses through the development of a serosurveillance test, QuestCap will receive royalties based on any related commercialization.
The aim is to develop a robotized platform to monitor the immune response to COVID-19, the assays will assess the following:
- Which individuals have previously been exposed to the virus
- What type and quality of antibodies have been produced in those individuals
- How long will any potential immunity persist
The platform is a simple “ELISA” (enzyme linked immunosorbent assay), the research team has optimized the detection to be used in a high-throughput platform with a potential for ~10,000 reads per day with the system.
Amino Therapeutics
On April 13th, 2020 QuestCap announced that it had acquired 40% of the shares of Amino Therapeutics, a company focused on early stage research into developing biologic therapeutics for COVID-19.
Amino recently expanded their laboratory operations to support ongoing research in peptide-based protease inhibitors as a potential therapeutic for patients with COVID-19.
PCL COVID-19 Antibody Testing Kits
QuestCap had previously announced on April 7th, 2020 that it had entered into a profit-sharing agreement with distributor MTJR to secure the exclusive right to distribute and market PCL’s COVID19 Rapid IgG/IgM Gold Tests in the United Sates and Canada with selling rights into Mexico and South America.
These tests have been marketed and distributed in the US to High Complexity CLIA Laboratories in accordance with the U.S. FDA’s policy on COVID-19 serological tests. PCL’s COVID 19 Rapid IgG/IgM Gold Tests are high-quality antibody blood tests that provide results within 10-15 minutes.
Additionally, MTJR has purchase agreements which are conditional on US FDA Emergency Use Authorization (EUA), an application is currently in process, the timeline for receiving the final response is still unknown.
A&H’s COVID-19 Standard for Safe Sport
The deteriorating public health situation in Colombia has delayed the start of professional soccer training and matches. The initial Letter of Intent entered into among A&H and DIMAYOR has lapsed, however when the health situation improves, A&H will participate in a general tender to provide sanitary protocols (logistics, disinfectants, COVID-19 testing) to resume soccer.
Questcap is a Market Awareness client of Capital 10X.
