Newsroom.

Embargoed until 11.00am 26 October 2017

AusBiotech is pleased to announce that MTPConnect - the Medical Technologies and Pharmaceuticals Industry Growth Centre - will provide provisional funding over two years, with proposed matched funding coming from the sector, for two projects “recognised as big, bold ideas to improve the productivity, competitiveness and innovative capacity of Australia’s medtech, biotech and pharmaceutical sector.”

The funding will allow the ‘Australia-China Life Sciences Partnership Program’ to increase awareness and opportunities for communication, collaboration and commercialisation between the life sciences sector in Australia and China, to deliver high-quality, collaborative research and industry projects as well as valuable data analytics on commercial engagement between the two countries.

Mr Glenn Cross, CEO of AusBiotech commented: “China is currently the second largest healthcare market globally and Australia’s number one trading partner. It is timely that an initiative to increase awareness within China of the existence of an Australian life sciences industry is undertaken. We are pleased to receive support from MTPConnect to undertake this project, which aims to rapidly increase the two-way engagement between the Australian life sciences sector and Chinese investors and healthcare research and industry partners.”

The second project, the ‘Pan-Asia Regenerative Medicine Alliance (PARMA) Program’, aims to develop and implement a global framework to identify and match research, marketing and investment opportunities in Regenerative Medicine, leveraging the pre-existing relationship between the sectors in South Korea, Japan and Australia to test and develop PARMA before expanding to other countries.

Mr Cross said, “With rising prevalence of chronic diseases and genetic disorders, increase in global healthcare expenditure, and rapid growth in the aging population, the regenerative medicine sector is a fast-expanding area globally. This project aims to leverage pre-existing relationships between Australia, Japan and Korea to develop and implement a global framework to identify and match research, marketing and investment opportunities in the sector.”

MTPConnect’s Project Fund Program is a competitive, dollar-for-dollar matched funding program investing in big, bold ideas to improve the productivity, competitiveness and innovative capacity of Australia’s medical technology, biotechnology and pharmaceutical sector. MTPConnect is supported by the Australian Government’s Industry Growth Centres Initiative.

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This year, MTPConnect has selected 20 national MTP projects to receive $7.385 million in funding over two years with proposed matched funding of $15.2million coming from the sector. Last year, the launch of the program saw 14 projects receive $7.4 million in funding over two years, with matched funding of $15.6 million. Following the success of these projects, this year’s program received significant interest from the sector, with 33 applications from industry, research organisations and universities to share in the funding available, with a proposed $25.8 million of matched funding coming from the sector.

Sue MacLeman, CEO of MTPConnect, said, “MTPConnect is focused on harnessing Australia’s world-class research to seize more commercialisation opportunities and accelerate growth. As part of our mission, we are funding big, bold ideas that will deliver results on a national scale, have sector-wide impact, and are aligned with the Sector Growth Priorities we have identified in our 10-year Sector Competitiveness Plan. By supporting projects such as AusBiotech’s we believe we can develop a more vibrant MTP sector ecosystem with more successful companies, and ultimately improve the health and wellbeing of Australia and the world.”

For more information on MTPConnect’s Project Fund Program and the successful applicants, visit: www.mtpconnect.org.au/2017projects

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Media enquiries:
AusBiotech, Lorraine Chiroiu, Deputy Chief Executive Officer,
lchiroiu@ausbiotech.org, +61 (0)429 801 118.

MTPConnect, Zoe Stephenson, Corporate Communications Manager, zoe.stephenson@mtpconnect.org.au, +61 (0)417 267 739

About MTPConnect
MTPConnect was formed as an industry-led independent not-for-profit organisation in November 2015 as part of the federal government’s Industry Growth Centres Initiative to accelerate the rate of growth of the MTP sector to achieve greater commercialisation and establish Australia as an Asia-Pacific hub for MTP companies.

The MTPConnect Head Office is located at the New Horizons Building at Monash University, co-located with CSIRO and industry. There are also key hubs at the University of Sydney’s Institute of Biomedical Engineering and Technology and the Medical Device Research Institute at Flinders University at Tonsley in Adelaide.

About AusBiotech
AusBiotech is Australia’s life sciences organisation, working on behalf of members for 30 years to provide representation and services to promote the global growth of Australian biotechnology. AusBiotech is a well-connected network of over 3,000 members in the life sciences, including therapeutics, medical technology (devices and diagnostics), food technology and agricultural, environmental and industrial sectors.