BioBusiness winners advance to Boston

Two of Australia's leading life scientists have been chosen from a highly competitive field of candidates to take part in a new initiative by pharma giant Merck Sharp & Dohme and non-profit interest group Advance to boost the capability of the country's burgeoning biotechnology industry and gain increased health and economic benefits for the nation.

Biota executive director of drug discovery, John Lambert, and Cytopia's chief scientific officer, Andrew Wilks, have been selected as winners of the inaugural Advancing BioBusiness Award, which aims to expand global connections for Australian science and facilitate more global collaborations for local biotechnology companies.

They will attend the world's largest biotechnology meeting, the Biotechnology Industry Organisation (BIO) international convention in Boston this month.

In addition they will participate in a tailored program of meetings with leading American organisations and individuals including venture capital firms, research institutes, biotechnology entrepreneurs and biopharmaceutical companies.

Professor Graham Macdonald, external licensing co-ordinator at Merck Sharp & Dohme and chair of the Advancing BioBusiness Award judging panel, said the pilot program aims to open new doors for Australian life scientists to help lift the country's success in the global market place.

"Australia is recognised for its excellence in medical research and its vigorous and creative biotechnology industry," Macdonald said. "In spite of this, the number of drug development projects which reach advanced clinical development is only a quarter of what would be predicted on the basis of our output in scientific literature.

"This lack of experience of success possibly contributes to the low level of biotechnology investment in Australia.

"By immersing two of our top biotechnology people in successful commercial research centres in the United States, and providing them with opportunities to share their learning back at home, we aim to build a stronger Australian capability to win in this highly competitive global knowledge market."

Professor Macdonald said the two executives were the stand-out winners for the award because both their companies were on a critical path in their drug development programs with some good international licensing agreements secured and new compounds in early development or clinical trials.

"They convinced the judging panel they would benefit significantly from this unique opportunity by putting forward well-considered programmes of experience with outstanding target centres," he said.