Biotech grants deliver $12m to local firms

The sixth and final round of the federal government's Biotechnology Innovation Fund (BIF) grants has been announced, with AUD$11.8 million going to 51 biotechnology companies around Australia.

This round brings the total amount of funding handed out to biotech companies under the AusIndustry program, part of the Backing Australia's Ability initiative, to $47.7 million, with some 160 companies receiving grants of up to $250,000 to pursue proof-of-concept and early-stage commercialisation activities.

Among the 51 companies receiving grants in this round were several listed companies, including Bionomics, Bone Medical, Stirling Products, Avastra, Cogstate and Imugene. Others were subsidiaries of listed firms -- Inner Vision Biometrics (Resonance Health), PanVax and Arthron (Prima Biomed).

In Bionomics' case, it is the second BIF grant received by the company over the last few years, and will be used to advance the validation and development of a number of therapeutic antibody targets identified in the company's Angene angiogenesis drug discovery program. Bionomics CEO Deborah Rathjen said the company planned to use the funding to fast track the validation and development process, and would also allow the company to begin the process of out-licensing some targets for further development.

"We will co-develop some of the targets in-house through our association with GenMab, and out-license the rest," Rathjen said.

The vast majority of companies awarded grants were start-ups and early-stage unlisted companies looking to commercialise technology ranging from devices including Spinamed's novel spinal disc nucleus replacement device designed to provide minimally invasive surgical treatment for chronic back pain; agricultural biotech such as Origo Biotech's project to insert a gene called plentiful into ornamental flowering plants to promote greater flower volume, and Acyte Biotech's development of large scale transient protein expression systems for bioprocessing and recombinant protein production.

Industry minister Ian Macfarlane said the response to the final BIF round was the best yet, and the grants would provide economic and job benefits as well as saving and improving lives.

Under the Backing Australia's Ability II initiative, BIF has been replaced with the new Commercial Ready program, which will combine BIF and other innovation grant programs including the R&D Start grants under one umbrella. The program is expected to provide up to $200 million a year for the next seven years to small businesses for R&D, proof of concept and early stage commercialisation activities, Macfarlane said.

Rathjen said Commercial Ready would provide companies with seamless access to funding for projects as they moved from proof-of-concept to clinical trials.

Biotechnology Innovation Fund - Round 6 grant offers

Acyte Biotech (NSW) $250,000 Large-scale transient protein expression system Dr Noelle-Ann Sunstrom Agri-Biotech (WA) $224,125 Antibody-based treatment for burns Dr Guan Tay Ag-ID (WA) $248,200 ReporterPlate process for analysis of livestock DNA Dennis Graesslin Alive Technologies (Qld) $250,000 Diabetes management system Bruce Satchwell Arthron (Vic) $250,000 Novel biological therapy for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis Vanessa Waddell Avastra (NSW) $250,000 End-to-side device for sutureless vascular anastomsis Paul Ralph Bionomics (SA) $247,503 Antibody therapeutics Jill Mashado

Bone Medical (WA) $250,000 Oral parathyroid hormone for osteoporosis John Fitzgerald

Cogstate (Vic) $250,000 Novel drug treatment for Parkinson's disease Dr Peter Bick Dendright (Qld) $250,000 Dendritic cell vaccines for the treatment of autoimmune disorders Dr Lisa Bidwell DiagnoseIT (NSW) $224,056 Monitoring treatment efficacy in sleep disorders Sean Simon Diagnostic Array Systems (Vic) $206,767 Detecting cause of infectious diseases using bacterial DNA Charles Murphy Droneon (NSW) $82,377 Peripheral assist device Mark Phillips Dynamic Hearing (Vic) $250,000 Low delay digital signal processing (DSP) for hearing aids and telephony Dr Peter Blamey Elacor (Qld) $250,000 Taipan natriuretic peptides for the treatment of congestive heart failure Dr Katherine Nielsen Elastagen (NSW) $250,000 Tropoelastin-based tissue augmentation Dr Michael Prodigalidad Genvartec (Vic) $100,000 Chemical test for detecting DNA-interacting compounds Heather Howard

HepatoCell Therapeutics (NSW) $250,000 High-volume hepatocyte production technology Dr David Andrews Herdvac (Qld) $232,100 Salmonella vaccine Dr Warren Henry Human Genetic Signatures (NSW) $250,000 Nucleic acid detection assay Rob Birrell

Impedimed (Qld) $250,000 Cardiography multifrequency bio-impedance analysis (BIA) medical device Neville Bertwistle Imugene (Vic) $250,000 Bird flu vaccine for the poultry industry Dr Michael Sheppard Inner Vision Biometrics (WA) $212,736 Non-invasive MRI test for liver fibrosis and cirrhosis Glenn Smith Keystone Product Developments (NSW) $150,000 Mobi-Drip portable fluid delivery system Dr Paul Dastoor Lipotek (ACT) $236,095 Lipokel vaccine Neil White Medic Vision (WA) $250,000 Virtual reality surgical simulation modules Ross Horley Microbial Screening Technologies (NSW) $250,000 Nuclear export of proteins as a target in chemotherapy Dr Ernest Lacey Minomic (NSW) $250,000 Instrumentation to access the hidden part of the proteome Brad Walsh Nephrogenix (Qld) $250,000 Cell-based therapies for kidney disease Samantha Cobb Neurotide (Qld) $249,450 Delivery of endomorphin as a pain drug Dr Stuart Behncken New Edge Microbials (NSW) $105,646 Agricultural microbial biofungicide/inoculant Sandy Montague Nuflora International (NSW) $250,000 Low water use ornamental plants Graham Brown Origo Biotech (Qld) $250,000 Improved aesthetic traits for ornamental flowers Darren Bolding Pacmab (NSW) $120,300 Monoclonal antibody therapy for Waldenstrom's macroglobulinemia Malcolm Castle Panvax (Vic) $250,000 Nanotechnology for vaccine development Vanessa Waddell Peptide Solutions (Vic) $250,000 Peptide drugs with increased efficacy and oral delivery Dr Philip McDonough Phylogica (WA) $250,000 Therapeutic leads for stroke Rolee Kumar

Plantic Technologies (Vic) $243,700 Biodegradable lethal mosquito Ovitrap for control of dengue Mark Fink QRx Pharma (Qld) $250,000 Novel recombinant inhibitor for bleeding control Alex Baker RadPro (Vic) $250,000 Topical radioprotectors for cancer radiotherapy Assoc Prof Roger Martin

RXNet (WA) $241,080 Non-invasive measurement of blood glucose Assoc Prof Kanagasingam Yogesan Seeing Machines (ACT) $250,000 Non-contact glaucoma diagnosis instrument Richard Johnstone Special Phage Services (NSW) $250,000 AquaPhages: a novel weapon against bacterial infections in aquaculture Dr Anthony Smithyman Spinemed Australia (NSW) $250,000 Spinal disc nucleus replacement Dr Abby Bloom Spintus (SA) $250,000 Point-of-care medical device Dr Neil Bartlett

Stirling Products (WA) $239,275 Merino lamb growth promotion agent Calvin London

SunPrime Seeds (NSW) $250,000 Low-cost technology for producing high-yield hybrid wheat Kerrie Gleeson TeeleOstin (Vic) $245,086 Novel parathyroid hormone for treatment of osteoporosis Dr Janine Danks Veravin (Vic) $193,205 Resveratrol production from plant cell culture Dr Richard Thwaites Viswa Biotechnology (SA) $250,000 Treatment for corneal angiogenesis Maurice Henderson