MTPConnect’s Clinical Translation and Commercialisation Medtech (CTCM) program held its first annual Symposium in Sydney recently, bringing together all 11 companies from around Australia who are recipients of CTCM funding to develop new medical devices to improve health and wellbeing.

In this episode, host Caroline Duell meets some of these Australian trailblazers - Eudaemon Technologies, CathRx, Ventora Medical, LBT Innovations, and 4DMedical, to find out more about their innovations and how the CTCM program is supporting their commercialisation journeys.

You will hear about a next generation hydrogel condom for better contraception and sexual health; a new ablation catheter for treating atrial fibrillation; a contrast-free combined air flow and blood flow 4D lung function scanner; a more accurate airway pressure monitor to detect respiratory distress in newborn babies on breathing support systems; and a compact platform technology to speed up microbiology workflow.

The CTCM program, delivered by MTPConnect, is made possible by the Medical Research Future Fund.

The GSK Australia Graduate Researcher Program (GRP) is a 12-month work placement program for PhD graduates supported by MTPConnect's Researcher Exchange and Development within Industry (REDI) initiative showcasing opportunities in the pharmaceutical industry by providing hands-on experience for postdoctoral biomedical/science researchers.

Since 2021, the GRP program has been opening doors for PhD science graduates and post-doctoral research academics who are interested in pursuing careers in the vaccines and pharmaceutical industry. 

As the program draws to a close, we take you to GSK’s Australian headquarters in Abbotsford, to find out more about the career-changing impact of the GSK Graduate Researcher Program (GRP) on the participants and the GSK team. 

Hear from GSK Specialty Care Business Unit Director Katrina Vanin, GSK Health Economic Lead Simon Barnfather, GSK Director of Clinical Research Carrie Bloomfield, ViiV Clinical Support Specialist Amy Dearsley, and GSK Australia’s Head of Communications Angela Hill.

For anyone thinking of moving from research/academia to the pharmaceutical industry this 2-part series is for you. We draw the curtain to find out what sort of career roles are available, discuss career satisfaction and get some tips from those who have made the move. 

MTPConnect’s REDI initiative is made possible by the Medical Research Future Fund.

The GSK Australia Graduate Researcher Program (GRP) is a 12-month work placement program for PhD graduates supported by MTPConnect's Researcher Exchange and Development within Industry (REDI) initiative showcasing opportunities in the pharmaceutical industry by providing hands-on experience for postdoctoral biomedical/science researchers.

Since 2021, the GRP program has been opening doors for PhD science graduates and post-doctoral research academics who are interested in pursuing careers in the vaccines and pharmaceutical industry. 

As the program draws to a close, we take you to GSK’s Australian headquarters in Abbotsford, to find out more about the career-changing impact of the GSK Graduate Researcher Program (GRP) on the participants and the GSK team. 

Hear from MTPConnect’s REDI Director Jarrod Belcher, GSK Medical Manager – Oncology and GRP Lead, Dr Niamh Mangan, GSK Associate Brand Manager Dr Terence Tieu and GRP interns Dr Niloufar Ansari (Medical Affairs Specialty Care – Oncology), and Dr James Cooney (New Products Specialty)

For anyone thinking of moving from research/academia to the pharmaceutical industry this 2-part series is for you. We draw the curtain to find out what sort of career roles are available, discuss career satisfaction and get some tips from those who have made the move. 

MTPConnect’s REDI initiative is made possible by the Medical Research Future Fund.

As thousands in the medical technology sector headed to Anaheim, California for The MedTech 2023 Conference, MTPConnect was making sure that the 20 companies and organisations joining the Australian delegation were given opportunities to showcase their capabilities and make valuable US and international connections. 

In this podcast special from Los Angeles, our CEO Stuart Dignam was with the delegation when he caught up with US medtech movers and shakers to gain some insights into how to crack the world’s largest medical technology market. Tune in to hear from Edwards Lifesciences’ Dr Farzad Azimpour, Scalehealth’s Chris Spearman, BioscienceLA’s Dave Whelan, Peptilogics’ Dr Nick Pachuda and Medical Alley’s Kylle Jordan. Stuart also connected with two Australians now based in the US – BiVACOR’s Founder and CTO Dr Daniel Timms who is developing a total artificial heart at the company’s manufacturing and R&D site in California, and Stryker’s Vice President and General Manager ENT Business Unit, Kate Stewart who is now based in Minnesota. They shared their tips on doing business in the US, leveraging technology and scaling up innovations for global markets.

The Team Australia delegation was backed by Austrade and our partners, Global Victoria, Trade and Investment Queensland, Invest and Trade WA. 

Dubbed the superbug pandemic, antimicrobial resistance (AMR) has been recognised by the World Health Organization as one of the top 10 public health threats facing humanity. 

Effective antibiotics underpin modern medicine and yet, it takes just two to three years for new antimicrobial medicines to become ineffective against superbugs. Worryingly, the innovation pipeline for new antibiotics is stagnating. 

An estimated 10 million people globally will die each year by 2050 from infections that can be readily treated today.

To mark this year’s World Antimicrobial Awareness Week, MTPConnect and its Australian Antimicrobial Resistance Network (AAMRNet), has launched the second of its Fighting Superbugs reports, Fighting Superbugs: Ensuring Australia is Ready to Combat the Rise of Drug Resistant Infections, prepared in response to the Australian Parliament’s report, The New Frontier – Delivering better health for all Australians.

The independent report developed by Evohealth presents nine recommendations, urging immediate action to enhance the availability of new antibiotics and equip the Australian healthcare system to fight the superbug pandemic.

Hosts Caroline Duell and MTPConnect’s Andrew Bowskill co-chair of the AAMRNet discuss AMR with two of the reports’ authors - Former Chair of the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee Emeritus Professor Lloyd Sansom, a renowned pharmacy academic, policy advisor and researcher and Renae Beardmore, Founder and Managing Director of specialist health advisory firm Evohealth and former Chief Pharmacist for the ACT. You can find the report on MTPConnect’s website.

Many well-known Australian medical innovations have been developed by visionary clinicians – doctors, nurses and allied health professionals – including the cochlear implant and spray on skin. 

In this special series we continue to explore how medical entrepreneurship can transform healthcare and meet Associate Professor Fiona Brownfoot, a specialist obstetrician and a clinician-scientist based in Melbourne.

Fiona has co-founded healthtech start-up Kali Healthcare that is developing a new pregnancy monitoring system that consists of a small wearable device and sensor patch that very accurately picks up a baby’s heart rate.

Fiona joins hosts Caroline Duell and Dr Brandon Carp, President and founder of the Australian Society for Medical Entrepreneurship and Innovation (ASME), to discuss her career choices straddling obstetrics and medtech innovation, taking part in the Australian Clinical Entrepreneur Program and ASME to avoid a lonely journey, and her motivation to prevent stillbirths through Kali Healthcare’s life-changing device to keep mothers and babies safe.

Many well-known Australian medical innovations have been developed by visionary clinicians – doctors, nurses and allied health professionals – including the cochlear implant and spray on skin. 

In part 1 of this double episode, we explore medical entrepreneurship in Australia with Dr Brandon Carp, a Melbourne-based doctor who changed up his medical career to pursue his entrepreneurial business ideas in healthcare. 

Brandon has been involved in the Australian Clinical Entrepreneur Program (AUSCEP) established by MTPConnect’s REDI initiative. He is also behind the recently launched Australian Society for Medical Entrepreneurship and Innovation, Australia’s first home for clinicians wishing to make an impact at scale in healthcare.

He joins host Caroline Duell to discuss his journey to clinical entrepreneurship, the rise of the portfolio career, and why we need to do more to tap into the talent in our medical and healthcare system to strengthen Australia’s innovation capabilities.

As Australia’s life sciences industry accelerator, MTPConnect’s is backing Australian medical devices of the future through the BioMedTech Horizons Program. It’s a $45 million initiative of the Medical Research Future Fund to bring life-saving medical products from an idea to patients. 

It’s about nurturing medtech companies through the first valley of death and de-risking product development to increase the appeal to private investment.  

The first phase of the program supported 11 companies. And from 2019, a further three rounds awarded $30.3 million in funding to 38 companies. 

The good news is these latest projects have again captured the interest of investors, going on to secure at least $479 million of further flow-on and external investment.
  
With the program wrapping up, we brought these innovators together for the BioMedTech Horizons Finale event in Melbourne and released an Impact report to share their innovation journeys. 

In the second of this two-part special, MTPConnect’s Caroline Duell chats to BioMedTech Horizons Director Elizabeth Stares about how the program is designed to tackle challenges in commercialising early-stage innovations. 

Caroline also catches up with several awardees to find out more about their innovations, including Brendan Fafiani from Cyban, Matt Boustred from ResusRight, Rachel Stirling from Seer Medical, Professor Mark Kendall from WearOptimo, Dr Kyle Berean from Atmo Biosciences, Ashley Zimpel from Cortical Dynamics, Dr Gautam Balasubramanian from Bionics Institute and John Konstantopoulos from Artrya.

As Australia’s life sciences industry accelerator, MTPConnect’s is backing Australian medical devices of the future through the BioMedTech Horizons Program. It’s a $45 million initiative of the Medical Research Future Fund to bring life-saving medical products from an idea to patients. 

It’s about nurturing medtech companies through the first valley of death and de-risking product development to increase the appeal to private investment.  

The first phase of the program supported 11 companies. And from 2019, a further three rounds awarded $30.3 million in funding to 38 companies. The good news is these latest projects have again captured the interest of investors, going on to secure at least $479 million of further flow-on and external investment. With the program wrapping up, we brought these innovators together for the BioMedTech Horizons Finale event in Melbourne and released an Impact report to share their innovation journeys. 

In this episode, we talk with BMTH program lead, Dr Gerard Gibbs and MTPConnect Chair the Honorable Jaala Pulford about the impacts of the program and the value of catalyst funding.

We also meet some of the awardees for an update on their promising innovations, including Robert Yearsley from ARIA Research, Anshul Dayal from Neuromersiv, Dr William Parr from 3DMorphic, Dr Ash Attia from Bionic Vision Technologies and Dr Cameron Ferris from Inventia. 

MTPConnect’s REDI Fellowships are improving engagement between researchers and industry and providing fellows with real-world innovation experiences within commercial industry settings. 

The idea of connecting researchers with industry is critical for the growth of Australia’s medical products sector and so far, 49 Fellows have been selected for industry placements, some with multinational companies, spearheading global collaborations and connections. 

One of those Fellows is Mark Taylor, Professor of Biomedical Engineering from the Medical Device Research Institute, at Flinders University in Adelaide whose work involves computational-based orthopaedic biomechanics to improve surgical planning and healthcare outcomes. 

Mark tells us about his REDI Fellowship with Synopsys Northern Europe, part of US-based Synopsys, a world leader in electronic design software, and how working with the Synopsys Simpleware team increased his skills in orthopaedic production development and software commercialisation, primarily through an in silico clinical trials platform. Find out how the experience has changed his mindset and research focus, and why he believes more research academics need an ‘industry buddy’.

Hosts are Caroline Duell, MTPConnect’s Director Media and Communications and Jo Close, MTPConnect’s Director, Adelaide Intermediary Program.