Winners picked
March 2016 - Another 15 Australian companies have been offered commercialisation support under the Australian Government's Entrepreneur's Programme, at a total of $8.1 million.Among the successful applicants is biotechnology company Minomic, which is developing a new diagnostic test for the early detection of prostate cancer.
The company was offered $572,445, which it will have to match dollar for dollar under the scheme's rules.
The MiCheck™ test is now in the late development stage, and according to company information, it has proved to be more specific than the existing PSA screening test.
However, Minomic says its commercial strategy for the technology is to market it as an adjunctive test, used in combination with the PSA test. This could reduce the significant over-diagnosis of prostate cancer in current population screenings.
Bypassing the small Australian market, the company seeks regulatory registration in two key markets, the US and Europe. It is also investigating whether a version of the antibody its diagnostic test is based upon could be used to kill prostate cancer cells in humans. Tests in mice have been promising.
Minomics is an example that close ties between public research and biotechnology firms are actually quite common, in contrast to the often referred to disconnect between universities and businesses in other sectors of the Australian economy.
In addition to his industry experience, Minomic's CEO Dr Brad Walsh has a background in public research, having led research groups at CSIRO, universities and hospitals. And Minomics has benefitted from NHMRC and ARC Linkage Grants, having forged close relationships with several universities - including Queensland University of Technology and the Queensland, South Australia, Adelaide and Macquarie Universities.
The company has resisted from exposing itself too early to the volatile nature of the stock market. While an IPO is on the cards, it is still unlisted, backed by a Sydney venture fund (Mark Carnegie) and a plethora of mostly wealthy private investors.
Another biotech company backed by the public purse is Clarity Pharmaceuticals. It was offered a commercialisation grant worth the maximum available amount of $1 million.
Clarity's business is in the area of medical imaging technology. Its expertise is in converting potentially therapeutic antbodies or peptides into probes that can be used to visualise diseased tissue in PET screenings.
The awarded commercialisation grant will fund a definite clinical trial of Clarity's radiopharmaceutical cancer treatment SARTATE™.
The company also aims to investigate the broader use of the technology in other cancers, such as neuroblastoma and prostate cancer.
The treatment is based on technology licensed from ANSTO and the University of Melbourne, again demonstrating the close links that already exist between public research and many biotech firms.
It is also another example for the signficant public investment in our biotech industry.
Clarity previously received a commercialisation grant for a proof-of-concept clinical trial of SARTATE in humans, which successfully completed in 2015. It also received a Research Connection Grant and a Business Growth Grant, both also provided under the Entrepreneurs' Programme.
In addition to Minomic and Clarity, the projects awarded commercialisation grants also include:
- Protego Medical ( $597,555) for clinical studies required to seek international partners for a sternal protection device that will reduce trauma, bleeding and associated complication and morbidity rates from cardiac surgery;
- Southern Innovation Trading Pty Ltd ($1 million) for a novel scanning technology for mining, enabling operators in real-time to distinguish high quality material from waste rock – reducing costs and environmental impacts;
- Agriwebb Pty Ltd (572,000) for the development of AgriWebb, a mobile and web-based software for the livestock industry to raise farm efficiency, increase transparency in food production and improve saleyard practices; and
- Burmon Pty Ltd ($150,000) for a revolutionary roof truss tie-down system for the building industry.