Episode Description
A cancer therapy discovered through Australian nature sounds like folklore until you hear the data and the strategy behind it. Andrew is joined by Ebru Davidson, interim CEO and Managing Director of QBiotics Limited, to unpack how an unlisted Brisbane biotech is building “partner-ready” clinical programs from its epoxy tigilianes platform.
We walk through tigilanol tiglate (TT), an intratumoural oncology drug candidate in phase two development, and what it means to report a 78% objective response rate in injected tumours in a refractory head and neck cancer trial. Ebru explains the clinical context, why durability matters, and the drug’s multifactorial mechanism of action: rapid tumour destruction, vascular disruption, local inflammation, and immune activation. We also talk about why consistent signals across head and neck cancer and soft tissue sarcoma strengthen the case for tumour-agnostic potential, even while each indication still needs its own evidence path.
Then we shift to chronic wounds and EBC-1013, a wound-healing hydrogel in a phase one dose-escalation trial for venous leg ulcers. You’ll hear how the approach differs from standard wound care, why disrupting biofilm and restarting the biology of healing could be critical for hard-to-heal wounds, and what “success” should look like for patients and health systems. We close with near-term milestones, the funding mix across programs, and how QBiotics thinks about partnering, non-dilutive funding, and the road to larger trials and regulators like the FDA and EMA.
If you found this useful, subscribe, share it with someone following Australian biotech and clinical trials, and leave a review. What’s the most important proof point you want to see next from TT or EBC-1013?