Commercialisation

In early 2008, Western Australia became part of an initiative that had commenced in Victoria and New South Wales during the previous year to address the commercialisation gap.  This initiative is the Medical Research Commercialisation Fund (MRCF), a $30 million fund formed from investments from Statewide Superannuation and Westscheme and managed by Brandon Capital, an experienced biotechnology venture capital team.  The MRCF provides its member institutes with access to risk-tolerant investment funds for proof-of-principle experiments as well as for the formation of new companies.

 

For institutes to become members, it also requires the financial support of the institute itself and the relevant State Government.  From Western Australia, this Institute along with the WA Institute for Medical Research joined the MRCF and we are very grateful to the State Government of the day, via what was the Department of Industry and Resources, for being supportive of this national initiative.  Apart from the possibility of attracting investment funds for commercial initiatives, membership of this fund provides another avenue of interaction between medical research institutes across the country and from a Western Australian perspective helps to keep us involved in the national scene.

 

The Federal Government also plays a key role in the development of the biotechnology industry in Australia in many ways, such as the provision of development capital.  The Investment in Innovation Fund (IIF) is an example, as well as the recently announced follow-on funding for the IIF.  The sudden abandonment of the commercial ready scheme with little to no consultation was less helpful to the industry and those who play a role in it, such as medical research institutes.  A spin out of this Institute, Phylogica Ltd, has been the beneficiary of such a grant and there is no doubt that it would not be as well advanced if it had not been for the commercial ready grant. Arguably, its very existence today would have been questionable if it had not won such funding. I urge the Federal Government to continue with schemes of this nature.

 

The Institute has generated 37 patent families since its inception.  As part of the commercialisation process, a number have been either licensed or assigned to third parties and others have been discontinued. The patent portfolio currently contains seven active patent applications that constitute our ‘work in progress’ of which one is at the provisional stage, another at PCT and five are in national phase.

 

A summary of the commercial opportunities and activities at the Institute is as follows:

 

Cancer
Our division of Children’s Leukaemia and Cancer Research, headed by Ursula Kees, has identified a set of genes that discriminates pre-B ALL patients with a poor prognosis.  The gene classifier predicts patient prognosis better than the current risk assessment factors of age and white blood cell count.
The Division has also developed a high-throughput real-time quantitative PCR method to detect very accurately a specific type of gene deletion which has traditionally been very hard to establish unambiguously.  Gene deletion can indicate a predisposition to developing disease or be an independent indicator of prognosis.

 

Asthma / Allergy
Researchers, headed by Pat Holt in the Division of Cell Biology, have identified a suite of genes that could provide a method of diagnosing and predicting the development of, and monitoring the treatment of, an allergic disorder.  Additionally, these genes could provide a means to screen for potential agents to treat or prevent an allergic disorder or may be targets for the development of such agents.

 

Respiratory System Function
Airway function is the focus of an invention being developed in the Clinical Sciences Division by division head Peter Sly and others.  The invention is a device to measure airway activity and its purpose will be to detect the early development, diagnose and monitor the treatment of respiratory disease.  As an added feature, it is expected that the device will have application to infants, enabling measurement of respiratory activity without sedation.

 

Viral Infections
A large number of RNA viruses (including Hepatitis C) ‘hi-jack’ cellular translation machinery to prevent cellular protein synthesis and enhance translation of viral proteins.  Existing drugs and vaccines are of limited use against RNA-based viruses since the high rate of mutation can circumvent very site-specific treatment methods.
Researchers at the Institute have developed a method of screening for peptide inhibitors of viral translation that will interact over a large interface of the viral RNA, therefore reducing the chance of mutation based resistance.

 

Contract Research
The largest component of our commercialisation activities would be classified as contract research.  Of particular note are the activities of the Vaccine Trials Group (VTG), which has grown in significance over recent years.
The VTG was established in 1999 as a collaborative venture involving the Institute, Princess Margaret Hospital for Children and The University of Western Australia School of Paediatrics and Child Health.
The VTG’s role is to provide a coordinated approach to the development, delivery, assessment and promotion of vaccines and allergy treatments in the community. It is involved in epidemiological studies, clinical trials of new and existing vaccines and in basic laboratory research necessary to design new vaccines.
The pharmaceutical companies involved with the VTG include Glaxo, Aventis, CSL, PPD and Wyeth.

 

Phylogica
Institute spin-out company Phylogica, formed in 2001 and listed on the Australian Stock Exchange in March 2005, is focused on the discovery of new drug opportunities using its patented peptide drug discovery engine, based on libraries of protein fragments.
The underlying technology aims at blocking the interaction of proteins that are involved in the disease pathway at the cellular level without disrupting the healthy interaction of other proteins.
The Institute’s current shareholding is approximately 10 per cent.

 

Advanced Diagnostic Systems
Our second spin-off company is Advanced Diagnostic Systems Pty Ltd (ADS), formed in 2003, is focused in the development of an asthma and allergy prognostic and diagnostic system. Funding was obtained from a UK-based investor and the Institute assigned the relevant patented technology into the company. The research work has concluded and the results have been very positive. However, to date, securing a commercialisation partner is yet to be achieved.  
The current Institute shareholding is 45 per cent.

 

Bruce McHarrie
Director of Finance and Business Development