Blog: ​Australia-Japan to strengthen links in Regenerative Medicine

24 November 2017

MTPConnect CEO Sue MacLeman shares updates from the recent Australia-Japan Regenerative Medicine Roundtable.

During the 2017 AusBiotech National Conference, leaders came together for the Australia-Japan Regenerative Medicine Roundtable to discuss opportunities for collaboration, joint activities, and increasing investment between two countries that are significantly investing in regenerative medicine.

The Roundtable provided a forum to discuss ongoing collaboration between the Regenerative Medicine Advisory Group and the Forum for Innovative Regenerative Medicine (FIRM), a Japanese organisation to establish social systems to ensure safe and stable access to the benefits of research into regenerative medicine. The organisations will be working together to develop a directory to showcase Australian and Japanese Regenerative Medicine companies and academia to drive further collaboration and investment.

In 2016, AusBiotech formed the Regenerative Medicine Advisory Group to support the new and rapidly growing industry that is already delivering on the significant potential to provide vital health benefits worldwide, with potential to lower healthcare costs for unmet medical needs and chronic conditions.

The Regenerative Medicine Advisory Group launched a six-page publication in October 2017, providing an overview of the sector and benefits of partnering with Australia. The report states that Australia has a strong and active regenerative medicine eco-system with internationally recognised basic and translational research, clinical trials framework and clinical centres, with over 15 cellular therapy companies focused on product development and infrastructure support, over 30 research centres, and over 25 ongoing clinical trials.

Roundtable participants also discussed the recently announced Pan-Asia Regenerative Medicine (PARMA) Program, funded as part of the 2017 MTPConnect Project Fund Program. The PARMA Program aims to develop and implement a global framework to identify and match research, marketing and investment opportunities in regenerative medicine. It will leverage the pre-existing relationships between the sectors in South Korea, Japan and Australia, and provide a regular forum to discuss harmonisation of regulatory frameworks.

With a consortium consisting of AusBiotech, Asialink Business, the Global Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine Acceleration Centre (GSRAC), FIRM, CCRM Australia, and Regeneus Ltd, the project is set to strengthen existing academic and industrial relationships between the countries and share scientific expertise, research capabilities and infrastructure.