The iQ Group Global

What Starts here Changes the World

Business View Oceania interviews Dr. George Syrmalis, Founder and CEO of The iQ Group Global, for our focus on Health and Fitness.

The iQ Group Global is a collective of likeminded companies that have worked to find, fund, and develop bioscience technologies to support medical innovation across the world since their founding in 2011. The organisation acquires intellectual property from their partners in research and academia, then uses their network of expertise to begin the lengthy process of transforming patents into marketable medical technologies. The iQ Group Global brings together the best of science, investment, and commercialisation towards a common goal; turning bioscience discoveries into life changing medical innovations, and taking them to the people who need them most.

Founder and CEO Dr. George Syrmalis established the innovative model behind The iQ Group Global in 2010. “Our mission is to identify the right assets and support their development as they lead us to medical discoveries and innovations, whether that is pharmaceutical products, medical devices, or health technologies,” Dr. Syrmalis shares. “Once we acquire a patent, we match it with a portfolio company, who then becomes the beneficiary for future monetisation. At the same time, we commence research and development programmes and capitalise the product through systematic investment from our network of investors. After the first cycle of funding, we list on the stock exchange, and take the product through to completion. We seek out partnerships with the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies with whom we sublicense the end product, which they market, sell, and in many cases manufacture. Our companies then enjoy revenues through upfront sublicensing fees, and through sales, royalties, milestone payments, etc. It’s a globally unique business structure that we have implemented for the betterment of our network and the global healthcare sector.”

The iQ Group Global has spurred the development of two major medical innovation platforms: The Biosensor Platform, and the Tex Core Oncology Platform. The Biosensor Platform uses Organic Thin Film Transistor (OTFT) technology to provide accurate medical testing on the spot- lessening the need for laboratory testing and placing diagnostic ability in the hands of patients and their doctors. Dr. Syrmalis explains, “Using this platform, we are the first company in the world to develop the Saliva Glucose Biosensor, which is a substitute for finger-pricking for those diagnosed with Diabetes. There are 500 million diabetics in the world, and their only option for the last 40 years has been to finger-prick multiple times per day to monitor their blood glucose. We are about to commence clinical trials on our Saliva Glucose Biosensor, which allows them to simply use our organic strip to measure their blood glucose levels in their saliva in conjunction with our digital app on their smart device. It makes finger-pricking, and the negative effects associated with it, obsolete. The bottom line is this technology will improve their quality of life dramatically, and that’s the reason for our existence.”

The Biosensor Platform and OTFT technology has the potential to test for up to 150 medical indications alongside glucose measurement. The iQ Group Global is exploring diagnostic potential in Biochemistry (eg: saliva glucose, cholesterol, etc), Tumor Markers, Immunology (eg: allergens, communicable diseases), Hormones, and even Nucleic Acid analysis. The organisation has recently announced their partnership with Harvard University’s Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, to work towards the pilot study development of the SARS COV-2 Antibody Biosensor, which uses OTFT technology to test for COVID-19 in minutes. Dr. Syrmalis says, “We know that accurate, real-time diagnostic tools are a future of global healthcare that we urgently need to accelerate into our current reality. Dependant on the outcomes of this research, we may be in a position to provide the global healthcare system with a point of care test capable of detecting SARS-CoV-2 antibodies, with the ability to provide results in minutes. And this test, it doesn’t simply give you a positive or negative result- it specifies how many antibodies are in your saliva, so you and your doctor can make educated decisions surrounding treatment and vaccination boosters.”

The iQ Group Global’s second major project, the Tex Core Oncology Platform, develops compounds for cancer treatments that are designed to be tumor localising, well tolerated, MRI-detectable, and effective in the treatment of a variety of solid tumors. Dr. Syrmalis explains, “Our oncology portfolio company is commencing clinical trials for its first pharmaceutical product, the OxaliTEX compound. We will be trialling this drug for ovarian cancer resistant to platinum therapy. Ovarian cancer is dubbed the ‘silent killer’ because it is often caught in its later stages. Up to 50% of late-stage patients fail conventional platinum treatments due to a build-up of drug resistance. We have worked with the University of Texas to develop a platinum compound that overcomes said resistance, and the preclinical studies that we have done have all been excellent.”

The iQ Group Global has a staff of approximately 200 across their science, investment, and commercialisation teams. Finding the right people for the job, Dr. Syrmalis says, has been no easy feat. “There are a number of factors to consider when we look for people to join our team. We need people with the right experience, drive to succeed, and who can come in with an understanding of why our work is so important. I’m firm in the belief that you can only have a great company if you have great people. Even if you have the best idea or the best technology, if you don’t have the team to back it up, it will fizzle away. Values that we appreciate in our staff include candidness, critical and creative thinking, independence, ambition, and above all, passion.”

In addition to difficulties in finding a skilled and passionate workforce, The iQ Group Global has had to overcome challenges surrounding the education of Australia’s investment community on the potential and importance of biotech as an investment sector. Dr. Syrmalis elaborates, “Biotech has a lot of intricacies and takes a lot of time and capital to develop. To take a drug from inception through to the market could take a decade and billions of dollars of investment. So changing the mindset of our investment community here from a short to long-term focus has been difficult. We have also had to work on raising awareness for biotech in general- Australia has a long history of investment in things like minerals and energy. I think the recent effects of the pandemic have had some positive effects for medical investment, in that people are seeing the value in medical technology a lot more.”

Looking to the future, The iQ Group Global aims to further develop medical innovations through The Biosensor Platform and the Tex Core Oncology Platform. Investment in biotech is crucial for the future of medical technology, Dr. Syrmalis concludes. “Biotech lays the foundations for so many different technologies- things that will be the way of the future. We are all about translational medicine that gives us the ability to use the underlying technology of our platforms for a range of different tests and treatments. We are in a great position to bring radical positive change to the lives of patients all over the world.”

AT A GLANCE

The iQ Group Global

What: Finding, funding, and developing bioscience for the creation of medical innovations

Where: The iQ Group Global is headquartered in Sydney, Australia

Website: https://theiqgroupglobal.com/

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