An insulin pill driven by nanotechnology and bioengineered replacement tissue to treat corneal blindness – these are just two of our many groundbreaking healthcare collaborations with commercial partners.
But translating our research from bench to bedside takes vision and commitment. This is how we do it.
University of Sydney medical researchers are forging commercial collaborations that will see innovative research projects translate into life-changing therapies for the wider world.
Among the many projects that have their origins in the University’s research departments are BIENCO, a world-first consortium established to address the global challenge of corneal blindness, and Endo Axiom, a commercial company founded to develop an oral insulin therapy to treat type 1 diabetes.
“As a faculty, the only way we can improve the health of the communities we work in is through partnerships – and that often means commercialisation," explains Professor Mary Collins, Faculty of Medicine and Health Interim Associate Dean (Research).
"Commercialisation is still seen by some as a dirty word, but that's how innovation finds its way in a market and allows it to have impact.”
Professor Gerard Sutton, a leading ophthalmologist and Honorary Professor at the Faculty of Medicine and Health, is the Project Lead for BIENCO.
“At the moment, we're a spin-out company from the University of Sydney, but if we're successful we’ll have a commercial company with investors," says Professor Sutton.
"The challenge for any spin-out is, first, the research program has to work – we have to produce what we said we will produce. Second, we need to be investable and financially viable.”
BIENCO is a collaboration between the University of Sydney, University of Wollongong, University of Melbourne, Queensland University of Technology, the New South Wales Organ and Tissue Donation Service, and the Centre for Eye Research Australia.
The group has received $35 million from the Australian Government’s Medical Research Futures Fund to transform corneal bioengineering research into commercial products.
You can have the best research in the world, but a successful experiment in a laboratory or a clinical trial will not cure blindness. It has to be commercialised.
“When treating corneal disease, you can treat it in individual layers – the inner layer (the endothelium), the middle layer (the stroma), and the top layer (the epithelium)," explains Professor Sutton.
"The grant we’ve received is for commercialisation, so our strategy has been to make each of those layers as a product individually, and all of these will contribute to creating a full-thickness bioengineered cornea.”
The research originated in a need for developing countries to have access to corneal treatments. There are 30 million people in need of corneal transplants and only one in 70 gets a donor cornea currently.
The bioengineered products will reduce the amount of donor tissue required, improving cost-effectiveness and offering increased access to vision-restoring corneal replacement tissue.
“We have a five-year runway for development. Currently one of the products is in animal trials, and two others will be ready for clinical trials within three years," says Professor Sutton.
"The goal is to have an Australian bio-manufacturing capacity that is producing a number of products to address corneal blindness here and around the world.”
The BIENCO group has received $35 million from the Australian Government’s Medical Research Futures Fund.
50
automatic
LinkPartnering with us gives you access to leading experts, cutting edge facilities and flexible, cost effective research solutions. We help you maximise your R&D budget, tap into government funding and solve complex challenges without the overheads.
Another University spin-out company is Endo Axiom, co-founded by Professor Victoria Cogger and her colleagues in collaboration with the Sydney Local Health District. It is supported by venture capital provided by biotechnology investment company Proto Axiom.
“A tripartite structure like ours is the easiest way to get innovative research into the commercial market," says Professor Cogger, who also serves as Director of the ANZAC Research Institute.
Endo Axiom was founded to harness novel nanotechnology to deliver insulin orally. It could improve the lives of the 175,000 Australians who have type 1 diabetes, who currently have to take multiple daily injections of insulin, and the 30,000+ people with type 2 diabetes each year who need to start taking injectable insulin.
“The oral insulin is made by attaching insulin to a nanoparticle and then coating that formulation in a protective layer that helps the insulin be delivered safely into the bloodstream," explains Professor Cogger.
Partnerships are absolutely vital. The University has the facilities and the research know-how, but academics don't have commercial skills, so industry partnerships are integral to any successful research going forward.
Unlike injectable insulin, oral insulin doesn't need cold storage, so it would be useful for remote communities, lower socioeconomic areas, or areas that don’t have stable supply chains or reliable access to electricity, such as war zones.
It also addresses a potentially life-threatening complication of injectable insulin: hypoglycaemia, in which the body’s blood sugar levels drop dangerously low, as well as potentially addressing the common problem of insulin-induced weight gain.
“People gain an average of seven kilos when they start injectable insulin therapy. With our technology, so far, we haven’t seen weight gain,” says Professor Cogger.
Currently, the oral insulin is being made compliant with medical manufacturing standards to ensure it is safe for human consumption. Human clinical trials will start shortly, with a view to having a product readily available in five years.
“In order to create impact from our research, we have to create ecosystems where universities work together with health services, industry and government as partners," says Professor Antoine van Oijen, Interim Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Research Enterprise) and NHMRC Leadership Fellow.
"We don't want to do this in a bespoke way for every individual invention. We want to create enduring ecosystems so it becomes easier for the development of treatments in the future.
"Walking that translation path is very complicated, and we are trying to supercharge that with some large investments and commitments.”
Among them is the Sydney Biomedical Accelerator, a visionary partnership between the University of Sydney, Sydney Local Health District and the NSW Government.
It is due to open in 2028, with the goal of bringing together multidisciplinary teams to convert research insights into commercial projects that will address some of the world’s most challenging health concerns.
