Australian medical research fund backs antibody start-up

Solvanix is a spin-out from the Garvan Institute of Medical Research in Sydney and will remain based at the facility. Its technology - known as StAbilize - reduces the aggregation of fully human antibodies. This means antibody-based therapeutics used to treat cancer, leukemia, arthritis and other diseases are less likely to run into stability problems, which have a detrimental effect on manufacturing and storage.

The new capital will be used to establish a service business that allows the rapid incorporation of StAbilize into human antibody candidates at all stages of development and commercialization.

The MRCF was set up in 2007 and is managed by Brandon Capital Partners. It has a corpus of A$51 million and invests in the early-stage development and commercialization of technologies emerging from Australia's medical research institutes and allied research hospitals. LPs in the fund include AustralianSuper, StatewideSuper and the Innovation Investment Fund (IIF) program.

"Solvanix is a great example of the pioneering technologies that the MRCF is set up to commercialize. This is the only broadly applicable technology proven to reduce antibody aggregation," Chris Smith, investment manager at Brandon, said in a statement. "StAbilize has a broad range of benefits such that it should be a game-changing addition to the global antibody therapeutics industry."

The IIF, set up in 1997 as a co-investment scheme whereby the government licenses fund managers and provides capital for investment which is matched at an agreed ratio by private sector LP commitments, was one of the casualties of Australia's austerity budget last year.

However, the government remains committed to healthcare innovation through other initiatives. Several of these were announced in response to the 2013 McKeon Review, which found that Australia had strong medical research capabilities but a poor track record in converting this into health and commercial benefits.

The government has pledged a A$125 million commitment to the A$250 million Medical Research Innovation Fund (MRIF) - a vehicle modeled on the IIF approach - and promised A$1 billion in seed capital for the Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF). The latter is intended to reach A$20 billion by 2019-2020.

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• Topics
• Healthcare
• Australasia
• Early-stage
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• Australia
• Venture
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• Brandon Capital
• healthcare