Quigley Pharma's QR-336 protects mice from lethal radiation, study shows

By Angela McDaniels

Seattle, Dec. 8 - The Quigley Corp. said its wholly owned subsidiary Quigley Pharma Inc.'s naturally derived QR-336 compound has again been shown to protect mice exposed to a lethal dose of ionizing radiation.

In an in-vivo study, mice were pre-treated with QR-336 and then exposed to a 9 Gys of Gamma radiation. Four times the amount of treated mice survived, 80%, than untreated mice (20%).

Acute radiation poisoning of 4.5 Gys would be fatal to half of exposed humans, the company said.

Results also show that bone marrow extracted from animals previously treated with QR-336 and irradiated could protect another set of irradiated animals, whereas bone marrow extracted from untreated, irradiated mice could not protect lethally irradiated animals, the company said.

"The implications of these findings are timely. Ionizing radiation even from cosmic sources could effect astronauts and commercial airline flight crews and has been linked to leukemia and other pathology. The development of a naturally derived, non-toxic drug could potentially offer some protection against these effects," said Richard Rosenbloom, Quigley Pharma's chief operations officer, in a company news release.

The study, performed by Yakov Ron of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, also provides a strong indication that QR-336 may protect bone marrow stem cells from irradiation-induced cell death.

The results of this study further confirm the results of previous mouse experiments of this compound, the company said.

"Results also show that QR-336 may provide a benefit for national security, the nation and the public at large," said Rosenbloom in the release. Quigley Pharma has met with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration Division of Counterterrorism, as well as the Division of Medical Imaging and Radiopharmaceutical Drug Products, in pre-Investigational New Drug stages.

Based on discussions with the FDA and these newly encouraging results, Quigley Pharma said it is taking steps toward an Investigational New Drug Application for QR-336 as a protective agent against radiation exposure.

In June, the National Institutes of Health issued a strategic plan to address the lack of protective and therapeutic medical treatments for radiation exposure. Quigley Pharma said it plans to pursue the development program and work with the necessary government institutions in order to further test the effectiveness of QR-336 against radiation poisoning.

Quigley is a diversified natural health medical science company based in Doylestown, Pa. Quigley Pharma conducts research in order to develop and commercialize a pipeline of patented botanical and naturally derived prescription drugs.

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