05 Sep Quincy Bioscience launches new anti-aging product
Madison, Wis. – Quincy Bioscience, a biotechnology company based in Madison, has launched it first product, an anti-aging dietary supplement that will be available at national retailers.
The product, called Prevagen, will be the first of several Quincy Bioscience products that use a calcium-binding protein found in jellyfish to replace age-fighting proteins lost in the normal process of aging.
Mark Underwood, president of Quincy Bioscience, said in a release that the launch comes after more than 12 years of research. “We all lose these types of proteins as we grow older and our jellyfish supplement replaces them, thus fighting the aging process,” he said. “People describe the effects as an increase in concentration or focus, and they are more energetic with more mental sharpness.”
Madison-Milwaukee connection
While based in Madison’s University Research Park, Quincy Bioscience has its roots in research conducted at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Studies conducted by Quincy Bioscience in conjunction with scientists at UWM have shown that the jellyfish protein aequorin results in a significant reduction of brain cell death in their animal studies.
Underwood, who has been testing aequorin with UWM Assistant Professor James Moyer, said lab results indicate the compound is much more “neuroprotective” than existing treatments.
Prevagen was developed from Quincy Bioscience’s platform technology that originally was aimed at treating diseases like Alzheimer’s.
Underwood said Prevagen is the first dietary supplement that addresses the core problem of the aging process – the death of brain cells caused by a lack of proteins like those found in the jellyfish. He said losing those proteins is like “not having a surge protector on your computer.”
As a member of this protein family, aequorin interacts with calcium and regulates the actions of critical processes that control the health of the cells involved in learning, memory, and concentration. In the brain, calcium levels affect neural cell health and calcium-binding proteins play a protective role. As humans age, the levels of this protein naturally diminish, and Prevagen can be used to replace those proteins and ensure optimal brain function, Underwood explained.
Due to the public’s keen interest in products that promise to fight the aging process, Quincy is planning to market Prevagen on several fronts. Underwood recently published a book titled, “Gift from the Sea: How a Protein from Jellyfish Fights the Aging Process,” which tells the story behind Quincy Bioscience and the research leading to the development of Prevagen.
Other marketing plans include a national television campaign and ecommerce efforts en route to national retailer distribution.
Down the product pipeline
Quincy Bioscience also expects to have a pharmaceutical product on the market in several years. It will seek to raise private equity to develop aequorin-based therapies for each disease it targets, starting with strokes and followed by Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, Huntington’s, and Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease.
Related stories
• BIO 2007: Wisconsin makes its presence felt
• Big pharma seeks Wisconsin biotech partnerships
• Biotech firm has strokes, Alzheimer’s in its sights