QuADD

QuADD (Quantum-Aided Drug Design) is a drug discovery platform developed by PolarisQB that leverages commercially available quantum annealing technology to accelerate the identification and optimization of drug candidates. Designed for use by computational teams at PolarisQB and partner organizations, QuADD provides a powerful new engine for tackling complex drug targets faster and more effectively than traditional approaches allow.

Through a partnership with quantum computing pioneer D-Wave, QuADD harnesses quantum annealing technology specifically engineered to solve large-scale, complex optimization problems. This technology delivers an order of magnitude increase in speed, compressing timelines that once took months down to mere days — enabling research teams to move from target identification to optimized candidates with unprecedented efficiency.

Core Platform Capabilities

• Access to a chemical space of 10³⁰ molecules, enabling exploration of both de novo combinatorial spaces and tailored on-demand chemical libraries
• Ability to discover optimized molecules for even the most challenging protein targets
• Rapid optimization of molecular structures, objectives, and constraints — completed in less than an hour rather than weeks or months
• Generation of high-quality candidate libraries optimized simultaneously across multiple properties, including drug-likeness, synthetic accessibility, and blood-brain barrier (BBB) permeability
• Support for user-defined properties and constraints, allowing teams to tailor optimization to their specific project requirements

Collaboration and Transparency Features

• Real-time visibility into the drug discovery process for all team members
• Detailed, data-driven insights to inform every decision throughout the project lifecycle
• Explainable results that support scientific understanding and stakeholder communication
• Designed to support transparency and cross-functional collaboration within computational and research teams

Workflow Overview

1. Define the target protein and set optimization objectives and constraints relevant to the project
2. Leverage quantum annealing to explore a vast chemical space of up to 10³⁰ compounds
3. Generate an optimized library of drug candidates meeting all specified criteria within hours
4. Review explainable, data-driven results to guide downstream development decisions

QuADD is available to pharmaceutical companies, biotechs, agricultural organizations, and contract research organizations (CROs). The platform is deployed by PolarisQB and accessed through partnership and joint development arrangements, with the underlying quantum computing infrastructure provided via D-Wave's commercially available technology. PolarisQB is headquartered in Durham, NC.