New investments from the Australian Government's Biotechnology Translation Fund (BTF) have provided a massive $41 million boost to Australian early-stage biotechnology innovations.
The recent funding spree includes Perth-based biotech Respirion Pharmaceuticals Pty Ltd, which has been offered $20 million, the fund's second largest investment to date, surpassed only by the $22 million to Certa Therapeutics's novel treatment of kidney disease in June 2016.
The company will use the money for clinical trials and further development of a new treatment for cystic fibrosis that was incubated at the Telethon Kids Institute, from where the company then spun-off.
The novel approach combines a drug used to bind and dispose excess metals in the blood stream with a standard-of-care antibiotic. When inhaled Respirion's formulation breaks down dangerous biofilms created by bacteria in the lung of patients, which increases the overall effectiveness of the antibiotic treatment.
The March announcement included also a major investment of $17.2 million offered to Blade Therapeutics. The company develops a new drug against fibrosis, an often fatal condition that affects many organs and for which there is currently no treatment.
In addition, $4 million will help Madorra Pty Ltd to commercialise a non-hormonal and non-invasive treatment of women who experience problems with the thinning of their vaginal walls, including drying and inflammation, after menopause.
Including recent investments the BTF is now supporting 14 Australian biotechnology innovations with a total of $122 million.
It was set up in 2016 as an equity co-investment venture capital program, to which the Commonwealth and the private sector have each contribute around $250 million. Its investments are to help promising Australian biotech firms with annual revenues of less than $25 million to get through the 'twin valleys of death', a term understood as the critical stages of pre-clinical and clinical development of a new medical treatment.
Especially smaller biotech firms often face the challenge that as they try to get a new product to market their costs of clinical development rise while the risks still keep substantial investor interest at bay.
The fund's capital of $500 million is invested through three private sector fund mangers, which are:
Other previous investments from the BTF include: