Author
Date
BioCurate
March 31, 2021
The 2020 Annual Report focuses on BioCurate’s successful evaluation of a number of new opportunities and acceleration the progress of projects along their respective development paths, despite the many challenges.
Author
Date
BioCurate
February 9, 2020
BioCurate, an independently operated joint venture between the University of Melbourne and Monash University, and with support of the Victorian State Government, today announced the appointment of Dr Damien Bates as Acting CEO, with Founding CEO Dr C. Glenn Begley transitioning to a specialist scientific, commercial and strategic advisory role for the organisation.
An internationally experienced biotech executive, Dr Damien Bates joined BioCurate as Chief Scientific Officer and Head of Translational Medicine nearly two years ago. He has played a critical role in driving the progression of projects along their respective development pathways through close collaborations with the Universities’ researchers and innovation staff, implementation of industry best practice across all aspects of project management, portfolio evaluation, industry engagement and resource allocation, and strong staff support and management.
BioCurate Chairman the Hon John Brumby AO said the leadership transition marked a critical next step for the company’s development.
“We have a well-developed project portfolio, a highly-skilled and committed team, and an excellent relationship with our Shareholder Universities. As Founding CEO, Glenn has made an outstanding contribution to BioCurate and we thank him for his untiring efforts to deliver our vision.
“We welcome Damien, who already knows the business well and has been the driving force behind the progress of our projects. We believe he will bring new energy, breadth of knowledge and focused leadership to all areas of the business,” Mr Brumby said.
As Founding CEO of BioCurate, Dr Begley’s expertise and his deep international experience, together with his passionate commitment to helping drive quality research and translation within the university and medical research sector, has been instrumental to BioCurate’s foundational success. He has led the growth and success of BioCurate through a number of the critical stages including:
“I am most proud of the staff and team culture that BioCurate has built and remain fully committed to the vision. I am delighted with Damien’s appointment – he, COO Linda Peterson and the BioCurate team, have my unwavering support. I look forward to supporting them as the company moves through its next exciting phase,” Dr Begley said.
Dr Bates said, “It is a great privilege to take over the reins from Glenn. I am looking forward to continuing to work closely with the Board, Shareholders and staff to support research that has commercial potential, and driving projects through to fruition – thereby getting one step closer to realising our mission of translating medical research outputs into high quality preclinical candidates for the bio-pharmaceutical industry and eventually new safe & effective therapies for the community.”
About BioCurate
BioCurate is a bold, collaborative venture, dedicated to delivering benefits to the community by helping to advance Australia’s research and innovation globally. Jointly formed by the University of Melbourne and Monash University, with support from the Victorian State Government, BioCurate identifies promising biomedical research discoveries and manage their translation into high quality pre-clinical candidates with the aim to develop potential novel human therapeutics. We operate in the under-resourced, yet critical, early phases of therapeutic development to overcome common barriers to success and drive early decisions. BioCurate is operationally independent, with a team of experts that brings decades of scientific and commercial expertise, enabling us to recognise and realise real-world potential and providing a critical bridge between academia and industry.
For more information about BioCurate, visit www.biocurate.com
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MEDIA CONTACT
Becky Evans
Edelman for BioCurate
+61452 579 242
becky.evans@edelman.com
Author
Date
BioCurate
December 16, 2020
Eric joined BioCurate in late 2017, teaming up with Dr. Cathy Drinkwater to seed the development of the BioCurate project portfolio from initial interaction with academic researchers to project selection and through to oversight and delivery of specific project milestones. From the onset, he worked closely with inventors and liaised with the Universities and other key players in the commercialisation pipeline.
As a classically trained pharmacologist with over 25 years of scientific experience as an academic, a commercial scientist, an entrepreneur and a consultant, Eric is well versed in traversing the many stages involved in drug development and relishes the dynamic challenge of “staying across the breadth and depth of disruption and convergence of technology that is shaping new therapeutics development.”
While Eric began his career by undertaking a PhD in medical pharmacology at the National University of Singapore and then completing his postdoctoral studies at Monash University, his interest in science was sparked when he was a 12 year old track and field athlete suffering from the adverse effects of anti-histamines. He reflected, “Trying to run a sub-28 minute 8K, being on anti-histamines and left sedated with no muscle tone. There had to be better drugs.”
As part of his quest to find better drugs, Eric moved into industry where he was in two different teams that delivered compounds into the clinic for cardiac and respiratory indications, which he lists as some of his happiest career achievements thus far. Others on this list include his time in Indonesia, where he worked with colleagues to establish a contract research business that has improved the lives of young students and scientists from that country in particular, and more broadly across the Asia-Pacific region.
Eric’s passion for the ultimate goal of improving the lives of patients, empathy for researchers trying to make important discoveries under difficult circumstances and understanding what investors and potential partners need to get discoveries to patients aligns perfectly with BioCurate’s values. “The team that Glenn, Linda and Damien have assembled is awesome, the mission and vehicle are unique and the potential to have impact across the spectrum from researcher to investor to patient is inspiring.”
Author
Date
BioCurate
November 25, 2020
The investment will support medical research projects delivered in partnership with knowledge institutes and industry stakeholders, anchored at key innovation and employment precincts, including the Monash Precinct, and Parkville’s Biomedical Precinct, where BioCurate is based.
The Breakthrough Victoria Fund will include the introduction of a new long-term investment strategy, underpinned by a partnership between industry, research, philanthropic and finance sectors.
The funding will not only play to Victoria’s strengths in the health and life-science industry, but also help support R&D adoption and commercialisation by supporting 15,700 jobs over the next decade.
BioCurate is particularly pleased given that the Breakthrough Victoria Fund was proposed by the Chairman of BioCurate and previous Premier, the Hon. John Brumby AO in a piece published a month ago. In the piece, he advocated investment in Victoria’s knowledge economy to capitalise on the outstanding medical research with the goal to achieve clinical impact and successful commercial outcomes.
Dr Glenn Begley, CEO of BioCurate noted this was a fantastic and visionary initiative that will yield rewards for future generations. The billion dollars commitment was a vote of confidence in Victoria’s world-class biotech sector, highlighting the important role research commercialisation plays in our State’s economic recovery.
“Victoria is home to our country’s best researchers and innovators. We have a vibrant biotechnology commercial sector and well-established R&D infrastructure, making our state a highly sought-after destination by global companies. We would like to thank and congratulate the Victorian Government for their vision and recognition of the biotech sector through the Breakthrough Victoria Fund, which will help advance Australian research and innovation globally,” said Begley.
About BioCurate
BioCurate was specifically created to invest in, manage and commercialise innovative Australian medical research. We provide a critical bridge between academia and industry by identifying promising research and accelerating its development for real-world clinical impact, while ensuring scientific and commercial rigour. Our multi-disciplinary team has an extensive global network and a proven track record in producing commercially successful therapies, positioning BioCurate well to drive the most feasible commercial pathway forward and improve people’s lives.
For more information about BioCurate, visit www.biocurate.com
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MEDIA CONTACT
Chenny Wulandari
Edelman for BioCurate
+61 411 582102
Chenny.wulandari@edelman.com
Author
Date
BioCurate
October 28, 2020
BioCurate aims to drive the successful translation of basic medical research towards the generation of new human therapies and potential cures and by doing so, aims to directly address the barriers that limit the translation and commercialisation of early-stage research. AbbVie is committed to addressing serious health issues, collaborating with hundreds of biotech companies, universities, not-for-profits and government organisations to advance science every year.
Niels Emmerich, AbbVie, Vice President, Search & Evaluation said “An emphasis on collaboration is an important part of our approach to R&D. We look for opportunities to work with partners, like BioCurate, who share our goals for addressing serious health issues. We are committed to nurturing an ecosystem that enables movement of research ideas and inventions into investable ventures, in ways that will create a sustainable pipeline overtime.”
BioCurate has several projects, emanating from the two Universities, that are currently under management in its investment portfolio. Under the MoU, the companies may collaborate on projects of specific interest within the portfolio. In addition, AbbVie will provide scientific advice and commercial perspective for projects within their therapeutic areas of focus (immunology, oncology, gastroenterology, virology, neuroscience, eyecare, women’s health and aesthetics), both directly and via participation in BioCurate’s Industry and Scientific Advisory Committee, to help optimise the development pathway of products in BioCurate’s portfolio.
Dr Glenn Begley, CEO of BioCurate, said the partnership with AbbVie is testament to the high caliber of Australian research that is widely recognised not only among the biomedical research community, but also by the pharmaceutical industry locally and abroad.
“BioCurate exists to drive the translation of promising research into new drug therapies by harnessing the knowledge and insights of our scientific community and collaborating with key partners along the development path. We are thrilled that AbbVie has joined our network of local and global industry partners with our mutual goal to advance promising early stage discoveries of new human therapeutics.” Dr Begley said.
Mr Chris Stemple, AbbVie General Manager ANZ said “Australia has had a long-standing reputation as a world leader in medical research, but unfortunately also one for being below average in commercialisation.”
“At AbbVie, we bring people together because we know that collaboration is the key to breaking barriers and exploring new frontiers in science. This collaboration with BioCurate is an exciting example of a partnership that aims to increase the speed at which new treatments are made available to those who need them.” Mr Stemple said.
About BioCurate
BioCurate was formed jointly in June 2016 by the University of Melbourne and Monash University, with support from the Victorian State Government, to accelerate early phases of new drug development.
The Company’s vision is to be a recognised global leader in the translation of basic medical research into human therapeutics. BioCurate‘s mission is to grow the Victorian and Australian biotech sector by translating medical research outputs into high quality pre-clinical candidates for the bio-pharmaceutical industry, venture capital companies and philanthropic funding agencies.
BioCurate is one of the key partners in the Biomedical Translation Bridge Program, a national initiative of the Australian Government aimed at nurturing the translation of new therapies, technologies and medical devices through to the proof of concept stage.
For more information about BioCurate, visit www.biocurate.com
About AbbVie in Australia
AbbVie is a global, research-driven biopharmaceutical company committed to developing innovative advanced therapies for some of the world’s most complex and critical conditions. Our heritage in Australia reaches back more than 80 years and we employ more than 450 people with our therapies currently benefiting more than 40,000 Australians. The company’s mission is to use its expertise, dedicated people and unique approach to innovation to markedly improve treatments. Recently, we acquired Allergan which immediately diversified our business across several therapeutic areas: Immunology, Oncology, Virology, Neuroscience and Aesthetics.
For further information please visit www.abbvie.com.au or connect with us via social media at @abbvie_AU on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram or our LinkedIn page.
Media contacts
BioCurate
Linda Peterson
Chief Operating Officer and Company Secretary
+61 419 320 435
l.peterson@biocurate.com
AbbVie
Lisa Maguire
Director Communications and Patient Relations
+61 499 200 550
lisa.maguire@abbvie.com
Author
Date
BioCurate
September 17, 2020
The team’s expansion will enable BioCurate to more effectively manage those projects within the portfolio that are making significant progress, as well as giving us greater potential to take on additional projects.
Andy brings extensive experience in working with multidisciplinary teams and driving commercialisation opportunities, while Belinda and Heique both have a breadth of experience managing drug discovery projects in collaboration with academic, contract research organisations, and industry stakeholders.
Critical to BioCurate’s success to achieve its mission is building a collaborative team of highly experienced and dedicated individuals who understand the challenges and opportunities of biomedical research, from both an academic and an industry perspective.
With an extensive, global network within the biotechnology sector, and a cache of knowledge and understanding of industry best practice, intellectual property and regulatory approvals, the BioCurate team is well positioned to chart the most practical pathway forward.
BioCurate is invested in the success of researchers and is committed to working with them to create therapies that have a lasting impact on the lives of patients.
To learn more about the team behind BioCurate, click here.
Author
Date
BioCurate
September 18, 2020
For academic researchers in the early stages of drug discovery, understanding the ethos, the attitudes and processes that comprise industry best practice is an important prerequisite for embarking on the commercialisation journey. Here, we explore what comprises industry best practice, principles of engagement between parties during drug development, and how you can optimise your chances of successfully bridging academia and industry.
This document will aid researchers in familiarising themselves with the expectations of collaborating with industry to translate early-stage research.
It can be understandably challenging for researchers who have invested many years, even decades, to gain a deep understanding in a particular field, to then feel comfortable handing on that research to others. However, the successful translation of great ideas into real-world impact requires input from multiple disciplines. One of the first major differences that may be noted is that an industry research Project Team does not only consist of research scientists. Depending on the stage of development, the team could include project managers, research scientists, toxicologists, process development and technology transfer specialists, quality experts, manufacturers, clinical operations staff, bio-statisticians, regulatory affairs experts, clinicians, finance and marketing specialists, legal and intellectual property (IP) experts.
The successful scientific entrepreneur must be willing to work with individuals who have expertise in different fields and to engage in robust debate about data – not only with respect to the science, but also with regards to validation of their results, assumptions about clinical use, differentiation from competitors and market potential. Sometimes, this can be confronting, but as we all know deep down, skepticism and constructive criticism is a critical pillar of research and key to a healthy, collaborative partnership.
Open, clear and honest communication also extends to matters of intellectual property, presentations and publications. Disclosing results in public forums must be managed strategically. Implicit in this strategy is consideration of costs and benefits of disclosure, prioritisation and management of tradeoffs from both an academic and industry perspective. For example, investors may not be willing to invest if disclosures have the potential to compromise intellectual property undermining the commercial endeavour. Once a publication strategy has been agreed, a detailed publication plan can be created, i.e. a roadmap detailing what to present, when, and in what forum, be it seminars, conferences, or a publication. It is important to stress that industry involvement does not preclude publication. Industry will often want to publish research alongside their academic counterparts, however, timing and content may differ and will be agreed as part of the Publication Plan.
Communication and collaboration are critical to the commercialisation process. To effectively drive and manage projects, we recommend you work with a partner who can bring commercial insight based on extensive industry experience and provide you with honest feedback made in good faith, working closely with you to translate new discoveries into new medicines.
The conversation surrounding the ‘reproducibility crisis’ has demonstrated the clear need to thoroughly and completely ensure the robustness of results. For industry, standard practice involves constantly and consistently validating data, even when statistically significant results have been presented from earlier experiments. The emphasis here is on the validation of reagents and repeating experiments, ensuring systematic use of positive and negative controls, blinding, randomisation, benchmarking, a priori definition of endpoints and success, adequate powering and confirming results with an orthogonal method. In addition, raw data will often be independently re-analysed.
This is not a sign of distrust or doubt in the original research but is simply, due diligence. It is a sad truth that many independent studies have found the reproducibility of scientific findings to be poor, with one stating that no more than 25% of assessed published preclinical studies could be validated to the point at which projects could continue.
Considering the time and cost of developing potential drug candidates, a thorough vetting process is critical and as such, is the norm in industry. With a robust evidence base that supports the development of a drug candidate, there is less risk and thus, greater confidence. Ensuring that your data is “robust” and reproducible will greatly assist in the odds of securing a deal with a biopharmaceutical company to translate a discovery made at the lab bench into a therapy used at the bedside.
Funding allocation in industry is specific and focused, which often differs from how the more familiar funding bodies from government or philanthropic organisations operate. Industry funding is usually aligned with a tightly prescribed set of activities, deliverables and milestones, with a strict requirement for adherence to budgets and timelines. Funds are often staged or tranched, meaning a milestone or Go/No Go point needs to be achieved in order to trigger release of the next tranche of funding.
As well as timelines and the meeting of experimental milestones that are consistent with industry standards, the successful execution of a drug development program relies upon regular, responsive and dynamic communication between all members of the research and project teams. Collaborators must be accessible and do their utmost to avoid any delays in response times. If delays in communication or collaboration become systematic and unresolved, milestones may not be reached on time leading to possible project termination.
While all BioCurate funding is necessarily directed towards the activities detailed in the overall project plan, the specifics will vary depending on the project. We focus on optimising the three pillars of execution: timeline, budget and quality. In some cases, we will outsource research to a CRO who is accustomed to high throughput or undertaking research activities at scale. In other cases, we prefer to work directly with research labs at the University given their unique expertise and availability of specific models. In these situations, funding may be used to support extra personnel in the University researcher’s laboratory.
Our team has expertise in both academia and industry and have been directly involved in multiple partnerships, in bringing drugs to market in several different modalities and therapeutic areas all over the world. Experience from the early-stage discovery process through to approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), European Medicines Agency (EMA) and the Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices Agency (PMDA) in Japan has informed our team of the processes, knowledge, behaviours and mindset that are required to see a drug candidate all the way through the development and commercialisation pipeline.
Ultimately, BioCurate is here to discuss the potential of your research project and to ready scientists like you for the next stage of an exciting journey that may see your research translated into products that improve the quality of patient’s lives. There is nothing more exciting, rewarding or valuable than seeing that vision realised!
Author
Date
BioCurate
September 7, 2020
BioCurate continues to build on its breadth and depth of expertise and global experience by expanding our team. This is critical in achieving our mission to translate early stage discoveries into therapeutics for patients.
Dr Heique Bogdawa is a biochemist with 12 years of experience in protein engineering across both academia and industry.
With a specific expertise in the development of high-quality biologics to assist with hit candidate identification and pre-clinical validation, Heique has worked in a variety of drug discovery programs using bioprocessing platforms to produce recombinant proteins to treat chronic illnesses, including infection, vascular diseases, inflammation and cancer.
After finishing her PhD in Biochemistry at Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil, which was partially undertaken at the Université de Lausanne, Switzerland, she completed two years of postdoctoral studies. Heique moved from Brazil to Australia to join Phylogica, a biotech company based in Perth, Western Australia. Here, she rose to the position of Principal Scientist where she coordinated R&D projects and engaged with different stakeholders, from CROs to pharmaceutical companies around Australia and the world.
Leaving industry in early 2018, Heique joined the University of Queensland where she oversaw the Protein Expression Facility. During her time in Brisbane, Heique implemented strategies to improve protein production capabilities to accelerate research in therapeutics, vaccines and diagnostics.
Heique’s personal motivation is to nurture meaningful scientific partnerships to bridge the “knowledge to action” process in order to effectively translate research into the clinic.
We are delighted that she has decided to join the BioCurate team!
Author
Date
BioCurate
July 17, 2020
BioCurate is an in-kind participant in the Centre, which will investigate membrane protein structures in detail, using the power of cryo-electron microscopy, to guide structure-enhanced drug design.
The new training Centre, to be led by Professor Patrick Sexton at Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences (MIPS), will provide strong links between academic and commercial partners.The MIPS-led consortium includes the University of Melbourne, University of Wollongong, the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research (WEHI) and industry partners including Catalyst Therapeutics, AstraZeneca, Pfizer, Dimerix Bioscience and Thermo Fisher Scientific. More than 20 investigators will be involved across the collaborating organisations.
Congratulations to the Centre team on the exciting news and we look forward to working alongside the Centre’s investigators training the next generation of researchers in the principles of therapeutic discovery.
Find out more from the Australian Research Council.
Author
Date
BioCurate
July 17, 2020
BioCurate’s mission is to translate discoveries made at the lab bench into therapeutics that make an impact on the lives of patients. Critical to our success is building a team of highly experienced and dedicated individuals.
Dr Andy Allen is a microbiologist with over 20 years’ experience in academia, small biotechs and large pharmaceutical companies.
Andy began his career in industry at Arrow Therapeutics as the Head of Molecular Biology. He has also been the Head of Laboratory Sciences at Oxford Gene Technology and a Senior Principal Scientist at Zoetis. During this time, he has led projects to discover novel antimicrobial targets, to optimise emerging genomic research methods, and to develop animal vaccines, leading to two patents.
Andy left industry in 2016 when he joined the University of Melbourne as the Business Manager Research Platforms before becoming a Senior Academic Fellow in Commercialisation.
As a result of his extensive and varied career, Andy is highly skilled at working with multidisciplinary teams and collaborators to meet project budgets, timelines and governance requirements, as well as developing business relationships and seeking commercialisation opportunities.
Andy completed his Bachelor of Science (Honours) at the University of Southampton, majoring in Biochemistry. Following the completion of his PhD degree in protein chemistry at the University of Cambridge, Andy held several postdoctoral positions in the UK before transitioning into industry.
We are delighted that he has decided to join the BioCurate team!
Dr Andy Allen commenced in his new role on 13 July 2020.