We are Committed to the Battle Against Opioid Addiction
Quadra Therapeutics is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit pharmaceutical company with a mission to develop and expand access to quality medicines for Opioid Use Disorder (OUD) for all patients, regardless of their socioeconomic status, insurance or geography.
OUD is a chronic relapsing illness characterized by repeated, compulsive opioid seeking or use despite harm. Opioid addiction generally refers to moderate to severe OUD, which the American Society of Addiction Medicine defines as ‘‘a primary, chronic disease of brain reward, motivation, memory, and related circuitry,’’ with a ‘‘dysfunction in these circuits’’ being reflected in ‘‘an individual pathologically pursuing reward and/or relief by substance use and other behaviors.’’ The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) defines OUD as a problematic pattern of opioid use characterized by loss of control of opioid use, risky opioid use, impaired social functioning, tolerance, and withdrawal.
The standard of care for OUD is medication-assisted treatment (MAT) which combines behavioral therapy and medications. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved three medications for use in treating opioid use disorder, including methadone, buprenorphine (with or without naloxone) and naltrexone. Naltrexone is an opioid antagonist, methadone is an opioid agonist and buprenorphine is a partial opioid agonist. MATs have variously been found to reduce morbidity and mortality, decrease overdose deaths, reduce transmission of infectious disease, reduce illicit drug use, increase treatment retention, improve social functioning, and reduce criminal activity.
Unfortunately, current oral, sublingual and extended-release (depot) MATs for opioid addiction have limitations, including modest efficacy, significant diversion into the illicit drug market (sublingual and oral), accidental poisoning in children (sublingual and oral), side effects and high relapse rates. In addition, Sublocade®, the only commercialized depot injectable buprenorphine can only be administered monthly, is available only at two dose levels, requires refrigeration and is associated with injection site adverse reactions (e.g., pain, pruritus, erythema, induration and bruising) in 14-and 19% of low and high dose recipients.
Therefore, we are developing new pharmaceutically and pharmacologically differentiated therapeutics that have the potential to provide reduced diversion and improved abstinence, treatment satisfaction, program retention, and long-term outcomes.