GeneQuine Biotherapeutics Changes Name to GQ Bio Therapeutics, Expands Facilities and Appoints Industry Veteran to Board
GQ Bio is also expanding its R&D facilities at its Luckenwalde (greater Berlin area), Germany site to support advancing the HCAd platform and development of the pipeline candidates towards clinical trials. Through the expansion, GQ Bio is now operating in approx. 750 sqm (approx. 8000 sqft) of state-of-the-art labs for in vitro experiments, ex vivo tissue models, vector production, vector platform optimization, manufacturing process development and other R&D activities as well as office space.
GQ Bio is also announcing the appointment of Patrick Stragier to its advisory board. Patrick is investment manager at the venture capital fund Noshaq SA, who has been a shareholder in GQ Bio since 2020. He has more than 30 years experience in the biopharmaceutical industry in the areas of vaccine, recombinant protein and cell and gene therapy, both in Europe and North America. He is a biochemist by training and has worked for several biopharmaceutical companies (Solvay, DSM Biologics and Genzyme) as well as for cell and gene therapy companies (Promethera, Glycostem, Lonza and Catalent), where he held various technical and senior managerial positions. He is also a co-founder of Masthercell, a Belgian-based cell therapy CDMO.
Kilian Guse, CEO of GQ Bio commented: ‘We are very excited to continue our growth strategy with the new name – which in fact had already been our nickname for a while – and expanded R&D capacity at our Luckenwalde site. At the same time, we would like to welcome Patrick Stragier to our board and are convinced that his guidance will be extremely valuable in our further development.’
Patrick Stragier, Investment Manager at Noshaq, said: “I’m extremely pleased to be part of GQ Bio’s journey in the development of innovative treatments using their high-capacity gene therapy vector platform. In particular, Noshaq and I are looking forward to supporting GQ Bio’s efforts in scaling up vector production with my industrial manufacturing background.”
About GQ Bio Therapeutics GmbH
GQ Bio is pioneering a high-capacity gene therapy vector platform (HCAd) that addresses some of the big challenges in the gene therapy field: Transfer of large and multiple genes with a single vector, highly efficient gene delivery (high transduction efficiency), and large-scale manufacturability. Based on its HCAd vector platform, GQ Bio develops transformative treatments for chronic, prevalent conditions such as osteoarthritis and intervertebral disc degeneration. GQ Bio is headquartered in Hamburg, Germany and has sites at Luckenwalde (greater Berlin area), Germany and Liège, Belgium.
