Australia's first national biotech incubator established

Australia’s first national biotech incubator is to be established with $40 million funding from the federal government’s Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF), and will be run by the Brandon Capital-managed Medical Research Commercialisation Fund (MRCF).

The Australian biotech incubator has been established to provide a critical bridge in the translation of promising research into revolutionary new therapies. The funding will be used to leverage Australia’s biotech research excellence to create a piece of national infrastructure that further supports life science researchers to commercialise their innovations.

“The Australian biotech incubator provides a game-changing prospect for more of our world-class medical research to be commercialised,” said MRCF Chair Bill Ferris. “This expansion of risk capital and expertise is key to progressing many more of our lab discoveries into clinical studies and ultimately into life-saving new therapies globally.”

“Over the last decade we have seen a gradual increase in the availability of capital to support the development and translation of Australian biomedical discoveries,” added Dr Chris Nave, CEO and co-founder of the MRCF. “However, the reality is that gaps, or even chasms, still remain. One of these is the capital required to bridge the gap between where research grant funding finishes, and before a technology is at a stage that it can attract its first seed investment.

“This new incubator has been designed to directly address this problem and we believe it can make a real difference.”

The $40m funding will be used to develop two streams of activity over the next three years. Any Australian SME or life science researcher at an Australian university or research institute is eligible to apply for funding.

The first stream of $20m will identify promising preclinical biomedical technologies, providing funding and hands-on expertise to guide the development of these assets through to the point that they are ready for seed investment.

The second stream of $20m will provide capital to support the clinical development of novel therapies to treat disease. Opportunities that successfully receive funding through this stream will also benefit from matching capital from the MRCF.

Together, both streams will result in at least a further $60m being invested into the biotech industry.

“The funding will see an increase in the translation of our greatest discoveries from the laboratory bench to the bedside,” Ferris said. “It will ensure Australians have access to the latest health treatments and will ultimately lead to more jobs, income, exports, infrastructure and manufacturing for the sector.”

The incubator program aims to provide funding to 20–25 Australian SMEs developing preclinical biomedical assets during the three-year funding period, with individual projects eligible for up to $1m in funding. It will also provide up to $1.5m, matched with $1.5m from the MRCF, to support 10–12 Australian SMEs in the development of their clinical stage products. Companies that successfully go through the incubator program may also have access to follow-on investment from the MRCF’s $700m life sciences fund, said to be the largest in Australia and New Zealand.

“We have world-class researchers in Australia who have the capabilities and infrastructure to advance and create therapies with the potential to have an enormous impact on some of the world’s largest health concerns,” Dr Nave said. “Overall, the incubator will create jobs, manufacturing opportunities and will nurture and develop world-class talent and research teams in the Australian biomedical industry.”

Image credit: ©stock.adobe.com/au/Pixel-Shot

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