For a healthier world

What does Quercis Pharma do?

Quercis Pharma AG is leveraging its novel antithrombotic platform to deliver innovative, safe, and broadly accessible treatments to patients with potentially life-threatening conditions.

Our focus is on prevention of venous thrombosis and pulmonary embolism in high risk cancer patients with our drug candidate ISQ950AN, containing our patented Isoquercetin formulation.

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Focused.

The safety of our investigational drug has been proven in various studies, with no serious side effects having been identified, in particular our drug shows no increased bleeding risk.

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Safe.

A clinical Phase 2 study has shown that ISQ950AN reduced hypercoagulability in cancer patients at high risk for thrombosis with an improved benefit/risk ratio.

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Effective.

Our novel pathway is based on a new mechanism of action, in order to arrest and/or reverse platelet aggregation with a profile that conveys vastly lowered bleeding risk compared to current standard of care.

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Novel.

We control both the raw material production and the Active Performance Ingredient (API) manufacture for our investigational drug ISQ950AN through our subsidiary Quercegen Pharmaceuticals LLC., making Quercis the world’s biggest manufacturer and distributor of pure Quercetin that is GRAS (“Generally Recognized As Safe” by FDA).

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Leading.

The humanitarian aspect of the Company is to look at global disease dangers in less privileged populations and to work with Governments and NGOs to improve healthcare in countries where they find it difficult to pay for development or production of new drugs to combat critical health threats (such as Ebola and Zika Viruses).

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Caring.

History

2009

Quercegen Pharmaceuticals LLC is formed and enters into many research collaborations with DARPA, AFFRI, CFD (US Army), and multiple top universities globally.

Merck KGaA’s Natural Products business, farms and manufacturing plants were bought and integrated.

Purchasing of a stake in Nutravail, a supplement producer with an R&D facility.

Research into combinations of flavonoids and flavonoids with vitamins.

2009-2019

Ten years of research and development focusing on flavonoids and naturally occurring small molecule formulations.

Collaborations with leading institutions, universities and hospitals around the world.

2019

Quercis Pharma AG is formed.

Quercegen Companies’ manufacturing and pharmaceutical assets integrated to Quercis.

Quercis took ownership of FDA IND of the successfully completed Phase 2 trial in VTE prevention in advanced metastatic cancers. All clinical programs and patents transferred to Quercis.

Successful End-of Phase 2 / Phase 3 protocol discussion with FDA.

Results from Phase 2 study on VTE prevention in cancer – the author’s take

Drug Development

Product

Isoquercetin (ISQ950AN) patented formulation

Isoquercetin prevents platelet activation and initiation of the thrombotic cascade.

Over 20’000 publications referencing Isoquercetin and Quercetin in multiple indications

Safety profile of our main investigational drug is well established; does not cause bleeding – a significant advantage over Heparins and Direct Oral Anticoagulants

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Lead indication: VTE prevention in cancer

Venous thromboembolism (VTE), which includes deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and pulmonary embolism (PE), is an important cause of morbidity and mortality among patients with cancer.

Besides increased risk of VTE, advanced cancer patients have a significantly increased bleeding risk.

Major bleeds are a side effect of today’s anti-coagulants (ACs).

As a result, Venous thromboembolism (VTE) prevention remains limited for advanced cancer patients, despite these patients being at a high risk of VTE.

Currently, anticoagulant use is not recommended prophylactically to cancer patients due to significantly increased bleeding risk.

Quercis’ drug is expected to prevent VTE effectively without increased risk of bleeding.

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Other high-priority indication: COVID-19

Evidence of Quercis’ drug candidate ISQ950AN being effective against a variety of virus infections (COVID-19, Influenza, HCV, hRSV, Rhinovirus, Ebola, HIV, etc).

Most patients with severe COVID-19 experience high levels of the D-dimer biomarker that underline higher risks of various forms of thrombosis particularly in the lungs. ISQ950AN’s capacity to inhibit thrombosis and decrease D-dimers in other context may prevent the life-threatening thrombotic events seen in these patients.

Various governments have requested collaboration and several Phase III trials are being prepared

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Other advanced indications (Phase II trials)

Treatment of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD)

Treatment of Sickle Cell Disease (SCD)

Treatment of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) – clearly orphan disease

Treatment of thrombi

Reduction of tumor metastasis

Prevention and treatment of viral diseases

People

Scientific Advisory Board

Dr. Jean Pierre Bizzari

Chairperson of the Scientific Advisory Board

Dr Jean-Pierre Bizzari is a world-renowned oncology expert with over 35 years of broad experience in oncology drug development. He is former CMO of Celgene where he presided over the registration of drugs including Abraxane, the frontline therapy for pancreatic cancer, Revilimid, Vidaza, Istodax, and Taxotere. Dr. Bizzari is a member of the European Organization of Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC), Chairman of EORTC’s New Drug Advisory Committee, and a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the French National Cancer Institute. He is Professor emeritus of Pathology at Harvard Medical School, and he was a member of National Institute of Health (NIH) expert panels, and of the medical Board of the American Asthma Foundation in the USA.

Dr. Robert Flaumenhaft

Member of the Scientific Advisory Board

Dr Flaumenhaft is Division Chief of Hemostasis and Thrombosis and Professor at Harvard Medical School. Dr Flaumenhaft’s laboratory has subsequently made major contributions to the understanding of the mechanism of platelet granule release and its role in thrombus formation. He holds dual board qualifications from the American Board of Internal Medicine.

Dr. Louis Barbeito

Member of the Scientific Advisory Board

Dr Barbeito is a former director of the Pasteur Institute in Uruguay. He directs the Laboratory of Neurodegeneration at Pasteur, Montevideo and performs research on the cellular and molecular mechanisms of brain aging.

Dr. Manuel Hildalgo

Member of the Scientific Advisory Board

Dr Hidalgo is a world renowned oncologist and specialist in pancreatic cancer. He is Professor of Medicine at Cornell Medical School and Chief of the Division of Hematology and Medical Oncology at Weill Cornell Medicine and New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center. He also is Deputy Associate Director for Clinical Sciences at the Dana-Farber, Harvard Cancer Center, and a Member of the Board of PANCAN. He has authored more than 220 articles in top tier peer-reviewed journals.

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Dr. Jean Pierre Bizzari

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Dr. Robert Flaumenhaft

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Dr. Louis Barbeito

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Dr. Manuel Hildalgo

People

Board of Directors
Ilias joined Quercis Pharma AG in 2019 as co-owner, CEO and Chairman. After advancing the company for two years, he stepped out of the operational leadership role in April 2021. Before Quercis, Ilias was a partner at Cevian Capital, Europe’s largest public equity activist fund, and before that, he had been with McKinsey & Company. Ilias holds a MSc in Electrical and Business Engineering from ETH Zurich, a Ph.D. in Corporate Finance from the University of Zurich, and a Certificate in Corporate Governance form INSEAD.
Thomas founded Quercis and its predecessor company Quercegen Pharmaceuticals, which acquired the Merck Natural Products Division 2009. He has been the driving force behind the successful development of Quercis’ drug development program. Thomas is a serial entrepreneur, scientist and successful inventor, who has registered multiple drug patents and trademarks. He is the world’s leading expert on naturally occurring small molecules as disease prevention agents with a specific emphasis on Flavonoids.
Philippe is the former French Minister for Health, a former member of the European Parliament and a United Nations official who has served as Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and chairman of UNITAID. He studied medicine in Toulouse, became Professor of Medicine at Toulouse Sciences University in 1988, and since 2016, he has also been a visiting Professor at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
Simone is professor at ETH Zurich, where she heads the Responsive Biomedical System Lab, developing diagnostic and therapeutic systems at the nano-scale with the aim of tackling challenging problems in medicine. She researched at MIT on nanosensors for in vivo tumor profiling and on methods to wirelessly enhance drug transport. She is a recipient of several awards, such as the Prix Zonta in 2019 for Women in Science, and was honored with the distinction of “Young Scientist” by the World Economic Forum (WEF) for her scientific contributions to society. She earned her PhD degree in microrobotics at ETH Zurich and holds a masters in industrial engineering from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology.
John is a company builder with operations and fundraising track record in life sciences. Most recently, he led operations and co-led fundraising activities at COMPASS Pathways, a clinical-stage company developing psilocybin therapy for various psychiatric and mood disorders. Compass is listed on NASDAQ (#CMPS). Prior to this, John worked as a management consultant with a focus on the life sciences at the Boston Consulting Group (BCG), in Europe and the US. He studied engineering and economics at MIT and the University of Cambridge and completed his MBA at Harvard.
Lars is a serial entrepreneur and investor in biopharma and technology. He currently serves as president and co-founder of COMPASS Pathways, a leading mental health care company, which he took public on NASDAQ. He is also co-founder of atai life sciences. Before joining COMPASS, Lars was the founder and CEO of Springlane and founder of several other companies. Lars previously was an investor with Waterland Private Equity. Lars holds a master’s degree in Finance from IE Business School in Spain and a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University in the Netherlands.

People

Executive Team
John is a company builder with operations and fundraising track record in life sciences. Most recently, he led operations and co-led fundraising activities at COMPASS Pathways, a clinical-stage company developing psilocybin therapy for various psychiatric and mood disorders. Compass is listed on NASDAQ (#CMPS). Prior to this, John worked as a management consultant with a focus on the life sciences at the Boston Consulting Group (BCG), in Europe and the US. He studied engineering and economics at MIT and the University of Cambridge and completed his MBA at Harvard.
Stefan has over 35 years of experience in the pharmaceutical and biotech industry. Before joining Quercis he was Chief Medical Officer and Head of R&D at Vifor Pharma with responsibility for preclinical and clinical R&D, regulatory and medical affairs as well as drug safety. Prior to that he was Head of Clinical Research at Novartis OTC and worked 20 years at Bayer in R&D. Stefan holds a Medical Doctor’s degree from the University of Düsseldorf, Germany.
Manon is a former investment banker and management consultant with experience in biotech entrepreneurship. Most recently, she was responsible for Business Development and the IPO process at COMPASS Pathways. Prior to this, she worked at the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) in London, where she joined after completing her MBA at INSEAD. Before INSEAD, Manon worked in the Natural Resources M&A team of Goldman Sachs. Manon is originally from the Netherlands and holds a master’s and bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Erasmus University (Rotterdam), and a bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Leiden University.
Raw material production and Active Performance Ingredient manufacture