Government commits $150 million to medical innovation fund

The National Reconstruction Fund Corporation has committed $150 million to Brandon Capital to accelerate Australian medical innovation commercialisation, according to an announcement on Thursday.

The investment will be allocated to Brandon Capital's BioCatalyst 6 fund and will support early and late-stage Australian medical science companies developing therapeutics, medical devices and vaccines.

NRFC chief executive David Gall said Australia produced world-class medical research but discoveries were often lost offshore during commercialisation. Australian medical manufacturing represented only 0.3 per cent of the nation's gross domestic product.

“Our partnership with Brandon Capital will help to ensure that more of Australia's world-class medical innovation makes the full onshore journey from laboratory to commercial viability,” Gall said.

The investment means the NRFC has exceeded its $550 million investment target for the 2025 financial year.

Brandon Capital founding partner and managing director Dr Chris Nave said the NRFC allocation took the BB6 fund to $439 million in committed capital, making it Brandon's largest fund to date. Other investors include Hostplus, HESTA, QIC, the Western Australian Government and CSL.

The funding will primarily help late-stage ventures grow and pursue regulatory approval, whilst one-third will support early-stage ventures.

NRFC chief investment officer Dr Mary Manning said the investment would help build a diversified portfolio in medical sciences with exposure to both early-stage ventures and scaled-up manufacturing.