A Minnesota biotechnology company that has licensed aerosol technologies from two VCU researchers continues to secure federal grants as it moves closer to commercialization. 

Last year, Quench Medical was awarded more than $2.3 million in federal Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grants for the continued development of its inhaled therapies for treating both lung cancer and lung leaks (pneumothorax). A $2 million April award from the National Cancer Institute is being put toward a treatment for lung cancer, while an additional $300,000 grant from the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute is studying an aerosol treatment for pneumothorax. That project is a Quench collaboration with Mayo Clinic, based in Rochester, Minn.

Quench’s IP comes from a 16-year research partnership into aerosol-based therapies with the VCU School of Pharmacy’s Michael Hindle, Ph.D. and the VCU College of Engineering’s P. Worth Longest, Ph.D. VCU TechTransfer and Ventures worked with Hindle and Longest to license some of their IP to Quench in 2022. “This collaboration is a perfect example of the power of bridging academia and industry together with the promise of improving patient outcomes and revolutionizing healthcare delivery,” says Brittaney Ritchie, VCU TechTransfer and Ventures’ medical devices licensing manager.

For the lung cancer therapy, Quench CEO Bryce Beverlin II, Ph.D. said the company is scaling up manufacturing and demonstrating in-vivo safety of an inhaled form of the chemotherapy drug gemcitabine, which is delivered via inhalation of an excipient enhanced growth (EEG) formulation.

The company says inhalation therapy overcomes the shortcomings of standard intravenous therapies, including lack of drug penetration in the lung and high systemic toxicity. Since the drug is inhaled, it also has a high feasibility for going directly to the lungs. Those findings were also published by the company last year in the technical publication Inhalation.

Quench also received a nearly $24,000 grant from Launch Minnesota, which provides awards to the most promising innovative scalable technology businesses in the state. 

In addition to lung cancer, the company has identified severe asthma and cystic fibrosis as potential initial applications for the VCU technology.