Biotechs, big pharma benefit as first P3 grants awarded

The federal government has today ladled out just under 60 per cent of the funding for its five-year $150 million Pharmaceutical Partnerships Program -- known as P3 -- giving 11 pharmaceutical and biotech companies a cash boost to fund drug development.

In the first of three planned funding rounds, five New South Wales companies and six Victorian companies received grants of between $10 million and $4.2 million.

The money was available on a competitive basis to any company with a track record of undertaking drug R&D activity in Australia, including biotechnology, originator and generic medicines companies.

The biotechnology recipients were Acrux ($4.2 million), AGT Biosciences ($8.4 million), Amrad ($5.2 million), Novogen ($10 million) and Pharmaxis ($6.1 million).

Big pharma did even better. CSL, Eli Lilly Australia, Mayne Pharma and Merck Sharrp & Dohme were each offered $10 million. Rounding out the roll-call were Servier Laboratories, which scored $7.8 million and Janssen-Cilag, with $5.4 million.

Under the scheme, companies will receive 30 cents for each additional dollar they spend on eligible pharmaceutical R&D in Australia.

"The $150 million P3 program sends a clear message to international investors that Australia now offers even more excellent opportunities to be involved with leading edge research in the health and biotechnology industries," said federal industry minister Ian Macfarlane.

Dr Peter Riddles, president of industry association AusBiotech, said that the bottom line of the program was to encourage drug development and expenditure on R&D by companies in Australia.

"The good thing is the P3 program emphasises partnerships between companies and between research organisations and multinationals," he said. "The really good thing is the program is supporting the growth of the industry here, strengthening the relationship between the biotech industry and the pharmaceutical industry."

Riddles is sanguine about the division of the grants. "I would say the smaller grants are a reflection on the size of the company, how much money they would spend money on R&D. Smaller companies wouldn't have as big a budget as Mayne."

According to Riddles, the P3 program began as a joint effort between AusBiotech, Medicines Australia, and the Generic Manufacturers Industry Association.

The capital can be spent on early research, through to pre-clinical development and clinical trials up to the point that a drug is registered with the TGA, or the FDA in America.

In a statement, Pharmaxis CEO Alan Robertson said P3 was an important initiative that would encourage innovation and creativity. "Support from the P3 program will enable Pharmaxis to continue investment in the parallel R&D of its various projects with confidence, and ensure we bring important new medicines to market in a timely manner," he said.