The medtech sector needs further investment in manufacturing to protect against further potential global shocks as medical supply chains in Australia have not recovered fully from the COVID-19 pandemic which caused havoc with patient care. By Dr Jack Richards. In the face of threats like pandemics and shifting economic and geopolitical conditions, it’s imperative that…
The new Viral Vector Manufacturing Facility, which aspires to be “a leading commercial viral vector contract development and manufacturing organisation (CDMO)”, has announced the appointment of its Chair and three board members. The VVMF, located at the Western Sydney suburb of Westmead, announced Sue MacLeman (pictured) as its Chair and Non-Executive Director on Thursday, following…
ASX-listed reproductive biotechnology company Memphasys has announced results showing “clear benefits” of its Felix technology versus two widely used technologies in a Japanese trial, with results from a larger-scale trial expected to be shared in late-2024. According to an ASX statement from the company on Monday, the Felix System (pictured) outperformed a sperm preparation method…
Pharmaceutical manufacturer IDT Australia has announced that it has been awarded a Victorian government grant to assist in the establishment of an Australian-first facility for oncology drugs. In an ASX statement on Monday, IDT said it has established relationships with Antibody-Drug-Conjugate (ADC) biotech companies, including a master services agreement with Japanese pharmaceutical company Nagase &…
Industrial biotech company MicroBioGen, which breeds yeast strains for purposes including biofuels and baking, has announced Dr Heinrich Kroukamp as its new Deputy Head of Research. Kroukamp (pictured) has nearly a decade’s experience in working with and researching yeast, including as team lead for the metabolic engineering of yeast at All G Foods, and technology…
CUREator by Brandon BioCatalyst, a biotech incubator, has announced the allocation of $3 million to five life sciences projects through its third round. The projects are part of the Minimising Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) stream of CUREator, which was established in 2021. and sponsors projects ranging from discovery to clinical development stages. AMR is a growing…
Syntara has announced that a Phase 2 trial evaluating the combination treatment of its SNT-5505 with chemotherapy will go ahead for patients with a form of blood cancer. In a statement this week, the ASX-listed drug development company – formerly known as Pharmaxis – said that its SNT-5505 (previously known as PXS-5505) would be trialled…
Reproductive technology company Memphasys has announced findings from a trial at a stud farm of its semen storage and transport device in November, which will lead to further work on medium and operational improvements of the AI-Port product. In an ASX statement on Thursday, the company said the trial at the Hunter region, NSW site…
The Victorian government-funded Breakthrough Victoria has made a $12 million investment into Aravax, part of a $66 million funding round in the biotechnology company, which is developing a novel peanut allergy treatment. Aravax is a clinical-stage company developing PVX108, its immunotherapy product that uses synthetic peptides to mimic key parts of peanut proteins to retrain…
By Brent Balinski Nobody is exactly keen on getting a needle, and getting rid of them is an old idea. Some articles trace an alternative, microarray patches, back to the 1970s, but today we still generally get our vaccines and various other drugs the old way – jabbed into our muscles. Ideas are easy, but…