AbOUT US
RQ Biotechnology’s mission is to develop medicines based on potent broad-spectrum monoclonal antibodies to provide instant and long-lasting protection for vulnerable people.
We are making instant immunity a reality for vulnerable people. As the leading passive immunization discovery company, we partner with pharmaceutical companies so our antibodies can protect against infectious disease where vaccines cannot.
To achieve this, RQ Bio combines deep knowledge of virus and antibody evolution to engineer antibodies that give instant immunity to the elderly, new-born babies and the immunocompromised. This approach ‘runs ahead' of virus biology to future-proof against escape mutations, even in highly variable viruses like influenza.
RQ Bio already has one antibody in clinical trials, to protect those most vulnerable to COVID-19. Discovery programs are also underway in influenza, cytomegalovirus and respiratory syncytial virus, which can cause hospitalization and death in vulnerable populations.
RQ BIO vs infectious disease
The elderly, new-born babies and those immunocompromised by disease or treatment remain at risk of common infectious diseases. These vulnerable groups are unable to mount a strong immune response to natural infection, and vaccination often doesn’t adequately protect against hospitalization and death.
Passive immunization using monoclonal antibodies, pioneered by RQ Bio, represents a significant opportunity to better protect vulnerable people and prevent healthcare systems being overwhelmed. Passive immunization through monoclonal antibodies is associated with optimal response rates in vulnerable populations, and as it does not rely on the body's own production of antibodies, passive immunization offers instant protection, which is vital in individuals with weakened immune systems.
RQ Bio has assembled a world-class team of scientists and business professionals, dedicated to protecting vulnerable people where there are currently little or no existing options.
Clinical development at speed and scale with pharmaceutical industry partners offers the potential for passive immunization to protect millions of vulnerable patients globally.
A Proven Process in Discovery
The RQ Bio approach to discovery is uniquely focused on understanding both virus and antibody. It starts by identifying and targeting the regions of the virus most vulnerable to attack, and likely to remain so, despite viral evolution. This understanding can then allow for the selection of future-proofed antibodies, with epitopes that are more resilient to viral evolution.
The RQ Bio process is powered by a depth and breadth of scientific expertise, combined with computational biology, to offer a highly productive pipeline of broad spectrum and long-acting monoclonal antibodies to protect vulnerable patients from viral diseases.
The RQ Bio discovery process has already been validated, with an RQ Bio antibody already in clinical trials to prevent COVID-19 in vulnerable individuals, less than 12-months after identification.
Today, RQ Bio has a strong antibody discovery program across influenza, COVID-19, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV+) and cytomegalovirus (CMV) and is seeking pharmaceutical partners to support clinical development of its pipeline.
Red Queen Hypothesis
The cornerstone of our approach to antibody discovery, and the source of the RQ in our company name, is ‘The Red Queen’ hypothesis, first proposed by Leigh Van Valen to understand species extinction. Van Valen proposed species must constantly adapt, evolve, and proliferate to survive when pitted against ever-evolving opposing species. In the words of the Red Queen in Lewis Carroll’s ‘Through the Looking Glass’ ‘Now, here, you see, it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place’. This encapsulates the continued ‘running’ of viruses through adaptive evolution and ‘running’ of the human antibody response through B cell receptor evolution.
RQ Biotechnology aims to tip the balance in favor of the human, by developing potent, evolutionarily advanced neutralizing antibodies to target the virus.