In Case You Missed It: Here's What The MTPConnect Team Has Been Up To in September

07 October 2020

Pictured: MTPConnect MD & CEO Dr Dan Grant, the Secretary of the Department of Health, Dr Brendan Murphy, Global Antibiotic R&D Partnership (GARDP) and the Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics (FIND) Business Development Executive, Paul Field, GARDP Executive Director Dr Manica Balasegaram, Biointelect MD Jenny Herz, Pfizer’s global Chief Medical Officer, Dr Pol Vandenbroucke, Opal Biosciences MD and MTPConnect Director Julie Phillips, The University of Queensland Centre for Clinical Research Director, Professor David Paterson, Combating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria Biopharmaceutical Accelerator (CARB-X) Professor Kevin Outterson and Medicines Australia CEO Elizabeth de Somer at the launch of the AAMRNet.

MTPConnect launches AMR Network and Superbugs report

MTPConnect recently announced the formation of the Australian Antimicrobial Resistance network – AAMRNet. It is the first network of its kind in Australia, a unique collaboration that will involve academia, government, industry, clinicians and consumer groups to mobilise Australia’s strengths in research and commercialisation. Many thanks are due to Pfizer ANZ, MSD Australia, GSK Australia and Medicines Australia for providing initial industry contributions to help establish the network. AAMRNet has been established following recommendations in a new report, ‘Fighting Superbugs: A Report on the Inaugural Meeting of Australia’s Antimicrobial Resistance Stakeholders’, also released by MTPConnect and prepared in partnership with BioIntelect. Tune in to our podcast to hear more from the AARMNet and ‘Fighting Superbugs’ report launch event with an industry roundtable and messages of support from home and abroad. We expect the network to grow so please get in touch to join.

BTB Awards $10.4 Million to 13 Research Projects

This month, MTPConnect awarded funding of $10.4 million to 13 early stage biomedical projects, including COVID-19 research, through the second and third rounds of our Biomedical Translation Bridge (BTB) program, an initiative of the Medical Research Future Fund. The funding attracted an additional $28 million in industry contributions illustrating the backing for these research projects. Five of these new projects are tackling COVID-19, including a vaccine candidate being developed in South Australia, a new treatment for respiratory complications of COVID-19 selected for a global WHO-endorsed clinical study, a preventive nasal spray developed from an approved antiviral, a rapid response test to predict severity of disease progression and a ventilated hood to better care for COVID-19 patients and protect healthcare staff. Another eight selected projects will commence research into treatments and diagnostics for conditions such as muscular dystrophy, breast cancer, metabolic and fibrotic disease, prostate cancer, ataxia, antimicrobial resistance and the Zika virus.

MDPP rolls out first online Capability Directory

MTPConnect welcomed the launch of the Medical Device Partnering Program (MDPP)’s first online Capability Directory, that has listing details of more than 2,600 Australian organisations – and growing – relevant to the medical device industry, bringing together expert research, clinical and manufacturing capabilities of Australian organisations. We’re proud to fund this initiative through our Growth Centre Project Fund Program.

REDI Partners Launch Initiatives

This month, we helped launch the Bridge and BridgeTech programs Industry Fellowship, supported by our REDI initiative, where our MD & CEO Dr Dan Grant presented on a panel virtually, with leader of the Programs Prof Lyn Griffiths, Anand Gautam from Pfizer, Erica Kneipp from ANU and Steven Kennedy at Cochlear. We welcomed five new IMNIS REDI mentees that will be mentored through an expanded program supported by REDI funding that taps into sector growth areas, such as regenerative medicine, cell & gene therapies and digital health.

Staying Connected with the MTP Sector

We continue to support collaboration throughout the sector with various sponsorships and virtual events to keep you connected. Our ‘Seminar Series’ hosted another webinar on ‘Developing Diagnostics: a different approach compared to drugs and devices’ featuring expert panellists from Zip Diagnostics, FPA Patent Attorneys and OneVentures. If you missed it, look out for the episode in our MTPConnect podcast series. We sponsored the 2020 Innovate Health virtual conference, the 2020 BridgeTech Virtual Symposium to welcome the new cohort, and the MTPConnect WA Life Sciences Innovation Hub supported the WA BioInnovation Showcase.

Bringing You the Stories of the Australian MTP Sector

Through our podcast series this month, we have shared some important stories including, Championing Social Entrepreneurships for Startups with The George Institute for Global Health, Revolutionising Patient Care with the team from RPA Virtual Hospital, our MD & CEO Dr Dan Grant’s keynote at Innovate Health 2020 - Spotlighting Innovation in the Australian MTP Sector and the Launch of the AAMRNet.