QBiotics strengthens medical leadership with appointment of CMO and world leading oncologist consultant
BRISBANE, 23 January 2025.
- Adjunct Professor Victoria Elegant has been appointed to the role of Chief Medical Officer.
- Professor Aurelien Marabelle, member of the QBiotics Clinical Advisory Board - Oncology (CAB), has been engaged as a consultant and key advisor for oncology drug development and commercialisation.
- The combination of Adjunct Professor Elegant’s medical leadership, international drug development and regulatory knowledge with Dr Marabelle’s significant oncology expertise is designed to support QBiotics in achieving its product development and commercial milestones.
QBiotics Group Limited (QBiotics) is pleased to announce two new appointments, with Adjunct Professor Victoria Elegant taking on the role of Chief Medical Officer (CMO) and existing Clinical Advisory Board member, Professor Aurelien Marabelle, being engaged as a consultant and key advisor for the company’s oncology drug development programme.
Adjunct Professor Elegant brings extensive international drug development and regulatory experience and will be responsible for overseeing the general medical and clinical aspects of QBiotics’ development programmes. She will provide ongoing clinical guidance, leadership and counsel to the QBiotics Board and human clinical development team. Commencing 28 January 2025, Professor Elegant will join QBiotics in a part time capacity.
Professor Marabelle is a senior oncologist, clinical investigator and researcher within the Drug Development Department of Gustave Roussy Cancer Centre, Paris, France, one of the largest Cancer Centres in Europe. As a leading expert in oncology research and development, and an internationally recognised key opinion leader, Professor Marabelle will be collaborating with QBiotics on the development and strategic direction of the company’s human oncology drug development and commercialisation programme.
CEO and Managing Director, Stephen Doyle commented, “We are delighted to welcome Adjunct Professor Victoria Elegant to the QBiotics leadership team as Chief Medical Officer. In appointing a CMO, we sought someone with extensive international experience in drug development, regulatory strategy and medical affairs. Professor Elegant brings these elements. We will also benefit from her proven leadership skills and robust scientific network.
It is also a privilege to extend our relationship with Dr Marabelle. His expertise will be invaluable in fine-tuning our oncology programme to drive further successful patient outcomes. We welcome the opportunity to work together more closely.
We look forward to both Professor Elegant’s and Dr Marabelle’s insights and oversight as we work to further advance our therapeutic programmes in oncology and wound healing, as well as our other pipeline candidates. Their collaboration will also help position us to achieve key commercial milestones.”
About Adjunct Professor Victoria Elegant
Professor Victoria Elegant is a physician who joined the pharmaceutical industry after postgraduate training in obstetrics and gynaecology in the United Kingdom. She has held positions in global drug development, medical affairs, regulatory affairs and drug safety in Japan, Australia, Europe and Asia. From 2016 – 2024, Professor Elegant was with Amgen as Vice-President, JAPAC (Asia Pacific) Regional Medical Head, and Site Head, China Research Site, Shanghai, based in Hong Kong. Prior to Amgen, Prof Elegant was the Vice-President, Regulatory and Medical Affairs, APAC, based in Shanghai for 10 years for Baxter, and Vice President, Medical Affairs, Asia for Shire. She has extensive experience in pharmaceuticals, biologics, and devices.
Professor Elegant is a Fellow of the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Medicine and a member of the FPM International Committee. She is Adjunct Professor, Faculty of Medicine, University of Sydney, Adjunct Professor, University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong and a member of the external advisory board for the Master in External Industry Practice, University of Queensland. She is a founding member of the China Medical Affairs Network, and President of the Asia Pacific chapter of the Medical Affairs Professional Society (MAPS). She is also on the Hong Kong stock exchange biotech advisory panel.
Professor Elegant has published extensively on regulatory affairs, medical affairs and clinical development in the Asia Pacific region, and has been invited speaker, panellist and chair at numerous forums.
Born in Hong Kong, Professor Elegant holds her medical degree from the University of London. Her passion is improving standards of care and outcomes for patients in Asia Pacific. Following her strategic leadership roles at Amgen (2016 – 2024), Adjunct Professor Elegant now holds prominent advisory, academic, and leadership roles across a range of global medical, academic, and non-profit organisations.
About Professor Aurélien Marabelle
Professor Aurélien Marabelle is a senior oncologist and researcher within the Department of Therapeutic Innovation and Early Stage Trials at Gustave Roussy Cancer Center, Paris France. He is also a Professor of Clinical Immunology at the University of Paris Saclay, France. Professor Marabelle’s clinical practice is devoted to early phase clinical trials of cancer immunotherapies for all types of cancers.
He also leads a translational research laboratory affiliated to INSERM, Gustave Roussy and Paris Saclay University with a focus on mechanisms of action of immune targeted therapies. Professor Marabelle is also the founder and Vice-Director of the INSERM Clinical Investigation Center BIOTHERIS, dedicated to intratumoural immunotherapies.
Professor Marabelle was initially trained as a scientist at the Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon and King’s College London and as a clinician at the Léon Bérard Cancer Center in Lyon, France. He completed a post-doctoral research fellowship in the laboratory of Professor Ronald Levy at Stanford University, California, where he returned in 2021 as a visiting professor.
He is an active member of the European Society of Medical Oncology, the American Society of Clinical Oncology, the American Society of Cancer Research, the Society of Immunotherapy of Cancer, and the European Academy of Tumor Immunology, and is the current vice-president and co-founder of the French Society for Cancer Immunotherapies. Professor Marabelle has published more than 280 peer-reviewed publications, has a H-index of 72 and is among the Highly Cited Researchers in the field of Clinical Medicine according to Clarivate/Web of Science.
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FURTHER INFORMATION
STEPHEN DOYLE, CEO & MANAGING DIRECTOR
communications@qbiotics.com
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MEDIA ENQUIRIES
JANE LOWE, IR DEPARTMENT
jane.lowe@irdepartment.com.au or +61 411 117 774
ABOUT QBIOTICS
QBiotics is an unlisted public Australian life sciences company that specialises in the discovery and development of novel cell signalling small molecules. QBiotics applies phenotypic screening to generate breakthrough innovation in the discovery of first in class solutions to challenging medical conditions. Our current clinical focus is on novel treatments for cancer and debilitating chronic wounds.
QBiotics’ lead oncology drug, tigilanol tiglate is currently in human clinical Phase II trials in Soft Tissue Sarcoma and Head and Neck Cancer. While demonstrating activity across a variety of solid tumours, Soft Tissue Sarcoma has been chosen as the lead indication—a significant tumour type and unmet need, for which the drug has received Orphan Drug Designation from the US FDA. A veterinary formulation of tigilanol tiglate is registered and marketed as an oncology pharmaceutical, under the trade name STELFONTA®, in the USA, Europe, the UK and Australia.
QBiotics’ lead wound healing drug candidate, EBC 1013, is a small molecule targeting a range of wounds including chronic and acute wounds and burns. A first-in-human Phase I clinical development in patients with venous leg ulcers is open for recruitment.