Historic University Collaboration Launched To Discover New Medicines
Author
Date
BioCurate
June 02, 2019
A newly launched $80 million enterprise marks a unique collaboration between Monash University and the University of Melbourne in the field of biomedical research.
A first for Australia, and one of a small number of similar initiatives globally, the enterprise taps into the outstanding and complementary biomedical research capabilities and successful pharmaceutical outcomes of the University of Melbourne and Monash University with their associated Medical Research Institutes and hospitals. Both universities rank in the top 50 universities worldwide for Medicine, Pharmacy and Pharmacology according to the latest QS rankings. When the research strengths of these universities are combined in selected therapeutic areas they would be placed in the top 10 institutions globally, so combining their capabilities produces a global scale venture.
The new enterprise will be owned jointly by the two universities but will be independently governed by a highly skilled Board. It will bring the advanced commercialisation skills and funding needed to address successfully the early stage “valley of death” that faces new discoveries. By doing so it will unlock the combined exceptional biomedical research strengths in Melbourne, enabling significant new discoveries to be translated more rapidly into new medicines; with potentially huge health and economic benefits to Victoria and Australia.
The enterprise was launched today in Melbourne by the two universities and The Hon. Wade Noonan MP, Victorian Minister for Industry and Employment.
The Minister announced that the Victorian Government will contribute $10 million towards the $60 million needed to get the enterprise underway, with the two universities having already committed $50 million. The enterprise is expected to generate about $360 million in activity, support new companies, increase investment and exports and create specialised jobs in the sector. Further funding is being sought from Commonwealth, philanthropic trusts and charities.
The Chair of the new enterprise was also announced today as the Hon. John Brumby, former Premier of Victoria (2007-2010) and Professorial Fellow at both the University of Melbourne and Monash University.
Monash University President and Vice-Chancellor Professor Margaret Gardner AO said the joint venture would reinforce Melbourne’s international reputation in health and medicine research.
“Melbourne has been at the leading edge of biomedical innovation for the better part of a century, from John Cade’s experiments with lithium in the 1940s to pioneering work in IVF and the Bionic Ear during the 1970s and more recent breakthroughs in cancer treatment, stem cell research and anti-viral drugs. This collaboration will extend that record of innovation even further.”
“This is an era in which Victoria can make unprecedented strides in tackling disease and investing in transformative research to solve the health challenges for the state and the world. The catalyst is our bold venture to do precisely that,” Professor Gardner said.
The new enterprise is the brainchild of Professor Bill Charman, Director of the Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences and Professor Danny Hoyer, the University of Melbourne’s Chair and Head of Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics in the Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences.
“The biomedical sector in Melbourne is already world-leading, thanks to proven research excellence and pharmaceutical outcomes from Monash and the University of Melbourne, combined with major health services such as Alfred Health, Melbourne Health and Monash Health. However, too often important medical discoveries have not made it from the lab into new cures and therapies. And those that have succeeded, have often need to be taken off shore early in their development such that higher commercial and scientific value has been lost to Australia,” Professor Charman said.
“Our new enterprise uses the combined research expertise, and infrastructure, of the two universities as a strong pipeline of high quality drug targets and drug candidates, along with the objective perspective of an independent entity which can then rapidly progress this forward to more advanced and then externally-funded stages of development,” Professor Charman said.
Professor Hoyer, with 30 years at Sandoz and Novartis in Switzerland before joining The University of Melbourne, said that the University of Melbourne and Monash University have a rich pipeline of biomedical opportunities to kick start the enterprise.
“Global Pharma who spend 30-40 % of their R&D budget externally, are interested in clinically validated drug targets; Melbourne has world-leading translational biomedical research embedded in both universities, medical research institutes and research hospitals. Melbourne is ideally placed to provide this translational knowledge, that is to close the loop from patient to bench and back to patient, and to test these drug candidates in carefully defined and selected patient cohorts,” Professor Hoyer said.
“However, to be effective, we need an independent enterprise staffed with professionals who have done it all before, versed in the logistics of developing medicines including project management, preclinical safety, pharmacokinetics and metabolism, pharmaceutical development, regulatory aspects, and contemporary clinical trial design. ”
“A wide range of drug candidates are currently at preclinical or early clinical stages at both Universities,” Professor Hoyer said. “The targeted diseases range from Preeclampsia, a potentially fatal condition in pregnancy, to various forms of epilepsy and other devastating neurological diseases, severe kidney, lung and cardiovascular disorders as well as a range of cancers and infectious diseases. This new enterprise will enable some of these and other transformational drug candidates to become a medical and commercial reality, by combining expertise and scale of both partners,” Professor Hoyer said.
University of Melbourne Vice-Chancellor Professor Glyn Davis said the new enterprise was a great opportunity to bring two world-leading universities together. “This enterprise will bring two outstanding research universities together to help provide a drug development catalyst, one that will attract global talent and international pharmaceutical companies to Victoria in a bid to help better translate research into commercial activity.”
“Convergence is the great theme of our time, and this is an enterprise that will bring people together around shared goals. And while it will start at the universities, it will move quickly to working with our partners in hospitals, medical research institutes and commercial players, all of whom will play a key part in its success.”
Two independent and respected economic specialist organisations reviewed the business case for the enterprise and found it a compelling investment for the State of Victoria. The two universities engaged the Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research and Boston Consulting Group (BCG) to assess the financial and non-financial benefits and the sectorial and wider economic impacts that can be anticipated from the enterprise over the immediate, medium and longer term.
Return to News
Convergence is the great theme of our time, and this is an enterprise that will bring people together around shared goals. And while it will start at the universities, it will move quickly to working with our partners in hospitals, medical research institutes and commercial players, all of whom will play a key part in its success.
Professor Glyn Davis,
University of Melbourne Vice-Chancellor
Historic University Collaboration Launched To Discover New Medicines
Australia, in particular the state of Victoria, is internationally recognised for its excellence in biomedical research. This provides a compelling opportunity for drug discovery and biomedical science translation.
Servier and BioCurate will collaborate under the terms of a memorandum of understanding (MOU), whereby they will work together, both directly and via participation in BioCurate’s Industry and Scientific Advisory Committee, in providing advice and assessing new therapeutic candidates arising from BioCurate’s academic partners.
BioCurate was established with a specific focus on addressing the barriers that limit the translation and commercialisation of early stage research. With the aim of increasing the number of ‘investment-ready’ projects, BioCurate is committed to engaging closely and collaboratively with industry and other potential investors to ensure promising projects receive critical expert advice and assessment throughout the drug discovery process.
“BioCurate is very pleased to receive this further endorsement from industry and to be expanding our collaborative linkages with experts who are able to provide invaluable scientific advice, commercial insight and partnering opportunities to BioCurate and Australia’s wider medical research sector,” said Dr C. Glenn Begley, CEO of BioCurate.
Australia is a leading country in scientific research and development (R&D), with a strong reputation in invention and innovation in both medical research and improving healthcare. To capture the opportunities of prolific R&D ecosystems, such as Australia, and to further strengthen its pipeline, the Servier International Center of Therapeutic Research has actively engaged some of the best researchers worldwide.
“Collaboration with biotech companies, academia, institutes and government is a key cornerstone of our strategy to put the patient and innovation first,” highlighted Claude Bertrand, Executive Vice-President Research & Development at Servier.
Conducive to this broad-based collaboration is Australia’s ‘Parkville Precinct.’ This cluster of 30 world-class hospitals, research institutes, teaching and biotech organisations in Melbourne employs approximately 10,000 researchers, many of whom are the global leaders in their field. With its headquarters embedded within this precinct, BioCurate’s internationally-experienced team is well-placed to complement this thriving research ecosystem.
“BioCurate is very proud of the industry-experienced team it is building and making available to the local sector. This is unique in the Australian context. Our staff are solely focused on increasing the clinical impact from medical research and we are doing this by sharing our hands-on experience, knowledge and networks from working in industry both internationally and in Australia,” Dr Begley said.
Servier is one of the first pharmaceutical companies to sign an agreement with BioCurate to share expertise and accelerate discoveries of new drugs.
“We are excited by the opportunity to create synergies between Servier’s scientific expertise and capabilities and BioCurate’s know-how in improving the quality of early stage research for a successful translation into therapeutic solutions for the benefit of patients,” concluded Pedro Crisanto, Director Servier International Centre for Therapeutic Research Australia & New Zealand. “Australia has ranked 5th in the Scientific American Worldwide scorecard 3 years running. Alongside BioCurate, Servier aims to translate this exciting science into improved health outcomes for patients around the world.”
About Servier
Servier is an international pharmaceutical laboratory run by a Foundation, with its headquarters in Suresnes in France. With a solid international footing in 149 countries and revenues of €4.2 billion in 2018, Servier employs 22 000 people around the globe. Wholly independent, the Group reinvests 25% of its income (excluding generics) into Research and Development and ploughs all its profit into its growth. The Group attributes its growth to an incessant quest for innovation in five fields of excellence: cardiovascular diseases, immune-mediated inflammatory diseases, neurodegenerative diseases, cancers and diabetes, as well as its development of high-quality generics. Servier also offers e-health solutions in addition to its medicinal products. www.servier.com
Servier has been present in Australia since 1979 through Servier Australia, the local subsidiary, and through the International Centre for Therapeutic Research (ICTR) launched in 1999. www.servier.com.au
Follow us: LinkedIn Facebook Twitter
About BioCurate
BioCurate Pty Ltd was formed jointly in June 2016 by The University of Melbourne and Monash University, with support from the Victorian State Government to accelerate early phases of new drug development. BioCurate is seeking to address the key challenges in early stage drug development and to increase the number, quality and rate of translation of new drug discoveries into medically sound projects that are attractive for investment via commercial or public-good routes. The Company’s vision is to be a recognised global leader in the translation of basic medical research into human therapeutics. BioCurate is one of the key partners in the Biomedical Translation Bridge Program, a national initiative of the Australian Government aimed at nurturing the translation of new therapies, technologies and medical devices through to the proof of concept stage.
Media contacts
Servier
Sonia Marques – sonia.marques@servier.com
Tel. +33 (0)1 55 72 40 21 / + 33 (0) 7 84 28 76 13
BioCurate
Linda Peterson – l.peterson@biocurate.com
Tel: +61 419 320 435
As an independent ‘venture catalyst’ and technology accelerator, BioCurate operates in the under-resourced, yet critical early phases of new drug development – a period often referred to as the ‘valley of death’ due to the high rate of project attrition.