Image: Fontainea picrosperma fruit from which tiglianol tiglate is derived
Australian life sciences company dedicated to the discovery and development of novel cell signalling small molecules derived from nature – QBiotics Group Limited (QBiotics) – is celebrating its 25th anniversary at the World Science Festival Brisbane (WSFB) – March 21 – 30, 2025.
Starting in a makeshift basement laboratory in 2000, QBiotics has harnessed the power of nature to discover and develop solutions for challenging medical conditions. Throughout its evolution into a clinical-stage life sciences company, QBiotics has discovered a unique pipeline of small molecules with the potential to address major health problems, including tigilanol tiglate with anticancer activity against a range of solid tumours, EBC-1013 treating chronic and acute wounds and burns, and programs in antibiotics and anti-inflammatories.
In recognition of the company’s progress over the past 25 years, QBiotics is proudly serving as Program Partner of the WSFB Unseen Worlds installation, featuring an impressive, experiential and dynamic display of Queensland’s scientific wonders. Through the lens of visual projections, WSFB attendees are gaining insight into QBiotics’ approach to drug discovery and development.
Last week, scientists, government officials, and corporate and educational partners Australia-wide will gather for an exclusive WSFB opening event to experience the Unseen Worlds installation, marking both the 10th anniversary of the WSFB, and the 25th anniversary of QBiotics.
For 25 years, QBiotics has seamlessly connected scientific discovery, development and commercialisation, leveraging our EcoLogic™ platform
QBiotics CEO, Stephen Doyle
According to QBiotics CEO and Managing Director, Mr Stephen Doyle, Brisbane, the company is thrilled to be participating in the Unseen Worlds exhibition, showcasing the innovation of QBiotics’ proprietary discovery platform, EcoLogic™.(1)
“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,” said Mr Doyle.
EcoLogic™ is a knowledge-driven approach that targets plant material with specific biological activity. Rooted in an understanding of ecological systems, and informed by observations of plant-animal interactions in megadiverse environments, EcoLogic™ has enabled QBiotics to discover novel, small molecules with the potential as pharmaceuticals, to address unmet medical needs.
In 2000, the two founders, Dr. Victoria Gordon, a microbiologist, QBiotics CEO and Managing Director for 23 years, and now Non-Executive Director, and Dr. Paul Reddell, a forest ecologist, QBiotics Chief Scientific Officer (CSO), and Executive Director, began exploring biologically active systems in plant defence. Drawing on their extensive knowledge of natural systems, they combined these insights to establish EcoLogic™.
…our anticancer drug, tigilanol tiglate, which uniquely demonstrates efficacy against a broad range of solid tumours.
Dr Victoria Gordon
“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,”
Dr. Gordon said.
“A prime example of this is our anticancer drug, tigilanol tiglate, which uniquely demonstrates efficacy against a broad range of solid tumours.(2,3) 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.(3,4)
“We are currently in Phase II clinical development for human application, where tigilanol tiglate is showing potential as a safe and efficacious anticancer treatment,”(5) said Dr. Gordon.
“Our Phase II trials are in head and neck cancer and soft tissue sarcomas, with several other tumour types being treated under Compassionate Use.(6,7)
“Tigilanol tiglate’s unique mode of action leads to complete tumour destruction, promotes healing of the site after the tumour sloughs, and has no significant side-effects for the patient.(2,3,5) This multifactorial mode of action stems from the drug’s origin in the seed of the Blushwood tree.(1,2) Since tigilanol tiglate originates in a natural system, it has the capacity to function effectively within the complexity of mammalian biology,” Dr. Gordon said.
“Had we relied on conventional, high-throughput screening methods, like those commonly used in pharmaceutical biodiscovery, tigilanol tiglate would likely have been overlooked.
“This underscores the strength of our discovery and development approach, which begins with EcoLogic™, progresses through complex organism phenotypic screening, and is tested in real-world animal diseases within the veterinary setting, before advancing to human clinical development,”
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,” Dr Reddell said.
“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,” said Dr Reddell.
“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.”
To learn more about QBiotics and its oncology, wound healing, anti-inflammatory and antibiotics programmes, head to qbiotics.com.
References
- Grant EL, Wallace HM, Trueman SJ, Reddell PW, Ogbourne SM. Floral and reproductive biology of the medicinally significant rainforest tree, Fontainea picrosperma (Euphorbiaceae). Industrial Crops and Products. 2017;108:416-22.
- Cullen JK, Yap P-Y, Ferguson B, Bruce ZC, Koyama M, Handoko H, et al. Tigilanol tiglate is an oncolytic small molecule that induces immunogenic cell death and enhances the response of both target and non-injected tumors to immune checkpoint blockade. Journal for ImmunoTherapy of Cancer. 2024;12(4):e006602.
- De Ridder TR, Campbell JE, Burke-Schwarz C, Clegg D, Elliot EL, Geller S, et al. Randomized controlled clinical study evaluating the efficacy and safety of intratumoral treatment of canine mast cell tumors with tigilanol tiglate (EBC-46). J Vet Intern Med. 2021;35(1):415-29.
- Musser ML, Jones PD, Goodson TL, Roof E, Johannes CM. Response to tigilanol tiglate in dogs with mast cell tumors. Journal of Veterinary Internal Medicine. 2024;38(6):3162-9.
- Bartlett et al. A Pilot Phase II Study to Evaluate the Small Molecule Tigilanol Tiglate in Patients with Advanced Soft Tissue Sarcoma (NCT05755113). ESMO 1736P. 2024.
- ClinicalTrials.gov. A Clinical Study to Investigate the Efficacy of Intratumoral Tigilanol Tiglate in Soft Tissue Sarcoma, 2025 [Available online here].
- ClinicalTrials.gov. A Clinical Study to Investigate the Efficacy of Tigilanol Tiglate Directly in Head and Neck Cancer 2025 [Available online here].
Source: Sponsored by QBiotics. For more information, view QBiotics Company News Page here
