The University of Sydney is investing AU$478 million (US$326.5 million) to build a leading biomedical precinct to fast-track research and shorten the time between discovery and development of transformative therapies.
Australian radiopharmaceutical company Advancell Co. Ltd. closed an AU$18 million (US$12.4 million) series B round that will take its lead targeted alpha-emitting radiotherapy, ADVC-001, for metastatic prostate cancer to the clinic by the end of 2022.
Western Australia’s private investment group Tattarang has launched a new AU$250 million (US$173.6 million) investment fund called Tenmile that will invest in early stage Australian biotech and med-tech companies. One of Australia’s largest private investment groups, Tattarang is owned by the Forrest family and has five business divisions made up of real estate, agriculture, energy, mining and hospitality.
Paradigm Biopharmaceuticals Ltd. announced a AU$66 million (US$46.39 million) capital raise to fund its phase III pivotal trial for injectable Zilosul (pentosan polysulfate) to treat osteoarthritis of the knee.
Stem cell therapy company Mesoblast Ltd. said that for patients with chronic heart failure with reduced ejection fraction, treatment with rexlemestrocel-L, its allogeneic product candidate, resulted in greater improvement in a prespecified analysis of left ventricular ejection fraction at 12 months relative to controls in the phase III DREAM-HF trial.
Immuno-oncology company Imugene Ltd. reported median overall survival for patients receiving HER-Vaxx plus chemotherapy was 13.9 months compared to 8.3 months in patients treated with chemotherapy alone in its phase II study in HER2/neu overexpressing advanced gastric cancer.
From 20 years of research on metabolic change as a result of salt intake, Karen Duggan discovered in 2003 that a naturally occurring molecule in the human body, native vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP), was capable of reversing fibrosis caused by hypertension and other chronic diseases such as diabetes. From that discovery, Vectus Biosystems Ltd. was founded, and the company has developed a new class of mimetic drug candidates and a drug library based on VIP.
Australia’s Therapeutic Goods Administration will begin conducting routine risk-based good clinical practices (GCP) inspections for clinical trials of drugs and biologics. The agency outlined in final guidance how it would prioritize inspections, what the process would look like and how it would report and follow up on inspections.
Telix Pharmaceuticals Ltd. has in-licensed Eli Lilly and Co.’s olaratumab antibody, agreeing to pay $5 million up front for exclusive worldwide rights to develop and commercialize radiolabeled forms of the antibody for the diagnosis and treatment of human cancers.