This week the podcast travels to the city of Newcastle to find out why a new regional medtech industry network has sprung up in the Hunter Central Coast Region, a location synonymous with coal. Trevor John, Director of Regional Development and Executive Officer and Kate O’Mara, Director Special Projects from the Regional Development Australia Hunter Committee join the podcast team to discuss the companies behind the MedTeCCH network, how COVID-19 prompted a re-think around advanced manufacturing capabilities, and the challenge to create more innovation-driven jobs. To join the network or learn more about medtech capabilities in the region, visit https://www.medtecch.org.au/. 

Brisbane-based Ellume Health’s Founder and CEO Dr Sean Parsons joins the MTPConnect podcast this week to share the full story behind developing the first #COVID-19 Home Test to be given FDA Emergency Use Authorisation in the United States. Ellume recently signed a $300 million deal with the US government to supply the over-the-counter diagnostic which uses smart-device connectivity and ramping-up Australian manufacturing will be critical to meeting demand. This is a must-listen episode for medtech innovators keen to understand more about commercialisation success in America. Sean shares his ten-year journey from physician to founder, including tips for fellow entrepreneurs and his views on how to boost sovereign capabilities by growing medical products manufacturing in Australia.

To stimulate collaboration across industry, research and clinical organisations we’re allocating $20 million to support the establishment of two new Research Centres through the Targeted Translation Research Accelerator (TTRA) initiative for diabetes and cardiovascular disease, supported by the Medical Research Future Fund. MTPConnect is calling for Expressions of Interest (EOI) to establish one centre focused on diabetes-associated complications and the other on cardiovascular disease-associated complications and each funded for up to $10 million over four years. The program has the potential to transform diabetes and cardiovascular disease outcomes and reduce the burden of disease on patients, families and the community. This Information Session provides valuable information to those considering submitting an EOI. Dr Dan Grant, MTPConnect Managing Director & CEO discusses the Research Centres opportunity. Lauren Kelly, MTPConnect Senior Director TTRA program and Dr Mana Liao, MTPConnect Director TTRA program outline the priority areas, submission process and provide relevant information about preparing an application. You will also hear from our TTRA Expert Advisory Board Chair Professor Ian Frazer AC FRS who contributes to the question time.

The Targeted Translation Research Accelerator (TTRA) initiative for diabetes and cardiovascular disease, supported by the Medical Research Future Fund, is calling for Expressions of Interest (EOI) for the first round of Research Projects funding. The program is making available $18 million to support translational Research Projects that have the potential to transform diabetes and cardiovascular disease outcomes and reduce the burden of disease on patients, families and the community – with up to $6 million available in this first round. This Information Session provides valuable information to those considering submitting an EOI. Dr Dan Grant, MTPConnect Managing Director & CEO  discusses the Research Projects opportunity. Lauren Kelly, MTPConnect Senior Director TTRA program and Dr Mana Liao, MTPConnect Director TTRA program outline the priority areas, submission process and provide relevant information about preparing an application. You will also hear from our TTRA program partners who will be providing mentoring and commercialisation advice to applicants and those receiving funding:

• ANDHealth’s Co-Founder & Chief Product Officer Grace Lethlean
• MDPP’s National Program Manager Olivia White and;
• UniQuest’s Senior Director QEDDI Dr Andrew Harvey 

While Australia is getting on top of COVID-19 and Britain begins vaccinating frontline healthcare workers, the virus is still raging in the US, Europe, and many parts of the world. It all underscores the critical importance of ongoing pandemic preparedness – for policy makers, industry and the community.  To hear more about Australia’s efforts, we meet Dr Felicia Pradera who leads the DMTC Medical Countermeasures (MCM) program, which involves harnessing Australia’s capabilities to develop leading-edge, advanced technologies and to direct and deploy skills into activities that support Australian defence, health and national security outcomes. Medical Countermeasures include vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics for the protection of military and civilian personnel against Chemical, Biological and Radiological threats, emerging infectious diseases and pandemics. They have just launched the National Health Security Resilience Assessment (open until 31 May 2021) to evaluate Australia’s research, product development and manufacturing capability in six priority areas - MCM, Medical Devices, PPE, Modelling and Simulation, Hazard Management and Sensing Systems. Find out why they need input from the MTP sector to help provide a national picture of Australia’s capability and capacity in the health security ecosystem. 

Digital evolution is the central enabling megatrend of the MTP sector. As healthcare incorporates more and more digital solutions, its important to get cybersecurity right.  Lives depend on it.  So how do we secure the digital safety and security of Australian medical technology and is the sector too complacent? MTPConnect’s Managing Director & CEO Dr Dan Grant tackled that question in his keynote at the Medical Technology Association of Australia (MTAA)’s Cyber Security Forum, in November 2020. MTPConnect was pleased to be a sponsor and support further discussion in this area. Many thanks to the MTAA for championing this issue and thanks to CSIRO’s Director of Health and Biosecurity Dr Rob Grenfell for facilitating the session. 

We’re patching you into our November 2020 Seminar Series webinar about how to craft a successful commercialisation funding application. Hear valuable tips from communications specialist and grant writer Rebecca Colless from gemaker, experienced grant assessor Dr Andy Gearing from BioComm Squared and Professor Kevin Pfleger from UWA who shares his academic and commercial experience, highlighting key differences between research and commercialisation applications. MTPConnect’s Dr Dan Grant brings insights from his own research career and administering MTPConnect’s multiple translation funding programs. They explore the steps to developing a well-executed application, share their experiences and reveal why it is so important to get the story right. The session was led by MTPConnect’s Director of Stakeholder Engagement for WA Dr Tracey Wilkinson. This episode will be of interest to researchers, research offices, start-ups & SMEs.

Happy bonus episode listeners! To mark World Antimicrobial Awareness Week, the MTPConnect podcast team caught up with OUTBREAK Managing Director & Co-founder Associate Professor Branwen Morgan from the University of Technology Sydney and Distinguished Professor Antoine van Oijen, who is OUTBREAK’s Deputy Managing Director and Director of Health Programs from the University of Wollongong, to talk about their new economic report on the impact of antimicrobial resistance in Australia released this week which shines a light on the multi-million dollar cost of drug-resistant infections and connects the overuse and misuse of antibiotics to the health and economic impact of a single disease. OUTBREAK is a national consortium whose analysis used big data and Artificial Intelligence to highlight how urinary tract infections (UTIs) are becoming more persistent and harder to treat, resulting in more people being admitted to hospital where they require longer stays and more costly medicines. Each year UTIs alone lead to 2.5 million GP appointments, 100K emergency visits and 75K hospital stays!. OUTBREAK is a member of MTPConnect’s AAMRNet, Australia’s first Antimicrobial Resistance Network launched in October 2020. The report is available to download at OUTBREAK Project’s website: https://outbreakproject.com.au/antimicrobial-resistance-publications/utis-economic-report/. For more information on AMR, follow Twitter for updates at @AAMRNet_ and @OneHealthAU.

For this episode, we’re exploring the incredible benefits that can flow from connecting PhD graduates with industry. By giving researchers real-world experiences in research-intensive organisations, we can drive better commercialisation outcomes. 

And it’s exactly what we’re doing as a core component of our ‘Researcher Exchange and Development within Industry’ (REDI) program - in partnership with pharmaceutical company GSK. GSK is one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world researching, developing and manufacturing innovative pharmaceutical medicines, vaccines and consumer healthcare products. The company has operations in Australia which employ 1,500 people in Sydney and Melbourne. GSK Australia has developed a new PhD graduate program to facilitate the cross pollination of scientific, academic research expertise with that of the Pharmaceutical Industry. The MTPConnect podcast team of Caroline Duell and Dr Rebecca Tunstall speak to GSK’s Head of Human Resources - Australia & New Zealand David Fitz-Gerald and GSK’s Director of Regulatory Affairs for Australia and New Zealand Dr Carolyn Tucek-Szabo about the launch of the new GSK PhD Graduate Innovation Program, supported by REDI over the next three years. The 12-month placement program, which builds on GSK’s successful Industry Based Learning program for undergraduate students, is open now for applications and will enable six PhD graduates to join GSK Australia assigning them to lead on core projects in areas such as early product development, medical affairs and regulatory affairs. The company is currently developing novel medicines in immuno-oncology, immuno-inflammatory, HIV, and infectious diseases (including COVID-19 therapy areas) so it’s an exciting time to throw off your lab coat to learn about industry career options. Apply by 2 December at GSK Australia’s website: https://au.gsk.com/en-au/careers/phd-graduates-and-post-doc-researchers/

The Medical Device Partnering Program (MDPP) is an ideas incubator, established in 2008, with the ambitious goal to make Australia the fastest country in the world to take a medical device to market. The program has been connecting with start-ups in Adelaide and now Victoria to develop their cutting-edge medical devices and is now expanding its services nationally across Australia with the support of MTPConnect’s REDI initiative! We hear from MDPP Director Professor Karen Reynolds and Innovations Manager Stephen Blakeney on the workforce skills gap they are seeing in the medical devices sector, their Online Capability Directory that identifies and connects innovative companies working in this space and they share some success stories of startups that have been through the incubator.  If you have a problem, an idea for a solution or even a working prototype for a medical device, contact MDPP at https://mdpp.org.au/.