Australian Brisbane-based life sciences company QBiotics is celebrating the 25th anniversary of its creation.
Since 2000, when it started in a makeshift basement laboratory, QBiotics has spent 25 years focused on discovering and developing novel cell signalling small molecules for challenging medical conditions.
It has established a pipeline of candidates, including tigilanol tiglate with anti-cancer activity against a range of solid tumours, EBC-1013 treating chronic and acute wounds and burns, and programs in antibiotics and anti-inflammatories.
According to QBiotics CEO and managing director Stephen Doyle, “For 25 years, QBiotics has seamlessly connected scientific discovery, development and commercialisation, leveraging our EcoLogic platform, to harness the power of nature and identify small molecules with the greatest potential for pharmaceutical advancement.
“This platform has enabled us to utilise nature’s abundant and remarkable chemical diversity, unmatched by synthetic chemistry, and to provide greater opportunity for the discovery of novel molecular structures and new modes of action.”
EcoLogic targets plant material with specific biological activity. It has enabled QBiotics to discover novel, small molecules with the potential as pharmaceuticals.
In 2000, QBiotics founders, microbiologist Dr Victoria Gordon, the company's CEO and managing director for 23 years and now non-executive director, and Dr Paul Reddell, a forest ecologist, QBiotics chief scientific officer, and executive director, began exploring biologically active systems in plant defence. This led to the creation of EcoLogic.
“For a quarter of a century, we have explored nature’s rich reservoir of bioactive molecules, gaining an in-depth understanding of the natural world, and uncovering solutions for unmet medical needs,” said Dr Gordon.
“A prime example of this is our anticancer drug, tigilanol tiglate, which uniquely demonstrates efficacy against a broad range of solid tumours. We have registered this drug as a veterinary pharmaceutical in Australia, the USA, Europe, and the UK for the treatment of canine mast cell tumours, having now treated more than 30,000 dogs.
“We are currently in Phase II clinical development for human application, where tigilanol tiglate is showing potential as a safe and efficacious anticancer treatment.
“Our Phase II trials are in head and neck cancer and soft tissue sarcomas, with several other tumour types being treated under Compassionate Use,” said Dr Gordon.
“While our current clinical focus is on developing treatments for solid tumours and chronic wounds, we also are also looking to the future with our early-stage discovery programmes for new antibiotics and anti-inflammatories,” said Dr Reddell.
“In these programs, we are once again, taking our inspiration from exploring nature’s remarkable chemical diversity, to design, test and develop potential new drugs to tackle challenging these diseases.
“Reflecting on the past 25 years, what has been critical to the success of our discovery and development programs, is our talented and remarkable people, both company staff and our long-term research partners like QIMR Berghofer.
“It is their inquisitiveness, passion for science, willingness to think and solve problems differently, and the energy generated from collaboration, that is the essence of our company, and is the culture that will underpin our future success,” added Dr Reddell.