Biomedical Translation Fund managers announced

The Turnbull government has selected the three venture capital fund managers who will manage the Biomedical Translation Fund (BTF), intended to help take Australian biomedical discoveries out of the laboratory and to the patient.

The BTF is a co-investment program with $250 million of funding seeded by the government’s Medical Research Future Fund, to be matched by more than $250 million from the private sector. The fund managers were selected through a competitive tender process managed by the BTF committee of the Innovation and Science Australia (ISA) board.

The committee considered each applicant’s expertise in commercialising health and medical research and their ability to guide innovative Australian companies along the commercialisation journey. Brandon Capital Partners, OneVentures and BioScience Managers were ultimately selected as the winners.

“The Biomedical Translation Fund (BTF) is ultimately about improving the lives of thousands of Australians through better health care, creating jobs and growing both new and established businesses,” said Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science Greg Hunt.

“The investments made by BTF funds into biomedical start-ups will help the businesses mature into internationally competitive companies solving unmet health needs and create new markets for health care.”

OneVentures provides human and investment capital to high-growth companies with a particular focus on transformative technologies. Brandon Capital specialises in life science investment, turning innovative science into improved medical outcomes. BioScience Managers is a life sciences investment firm with a skillset specific to the bio-based industries with an international perspective. Each company will invest their BTF funds in biomedical discoveries such as drugs, devices and therapies which have the capacity to change lives by turning them into real-life healthcare solutions.

“The fund aims to stimulate the biomedical research sector by attracting private investment and leveraging the expertise of Brandon, OneVentures and BioScience Managers to find the next great Australian biomedical discoveries,” explained Yasser El-Ansary, chief executive of the Australian Private Equity and Venture Capital Association Limited (AVCAL).

“Each of these fund managers were chosen for their experience and capability to negotiate the challenges, expense and time commitments involved with commercialising groundbreaking medical research, which reflects the depth of talent and expertise we have in Australia.”

Jeremy Curnock Cook, managing director of BioScience Managers, said the best feature of the BTF is that it will be highly targeted.

“It is really important to remember that this money is not a handout — the federal government is rightly expecting to achieve a good financial return on its investment on behalf of taxpayers and the three fund managers appointed will certainly be seeking just that for the money they are investing on behalf of their investors,” he said.

“It is not simply a case of funding basic research in a different way — as the name of the fund suggests, it is about translating research that has already been validated into commercially competitive drugs, medical devices and clinical products that meet clearly defined markets and produce meaningful returns for investors, including taxpayers.”

ISA Chair Bill Ferris AC has welcomed the successful applicants and reiterated the importance of the initiative.

“For too long, Australia has been held back from reaching our innovation potential by a lack of access to capital for those seeking to pursue commercial opportunities presented by our world-class health and medical research,” he said.

“Providing our up-and-coming innovative life sciences companies with the funding and encouragement they need in Australia will ensure less of our inventiveness and intellectual property drifts offshore to achieve support. The BTF will increase our innovative leadership in world health outcomes.”

Further information on the BTF is available at www.business.gov.au/BTF.