State government awards support to IDT for nation’s first ADC factory

Pharmaceutical manufacturer IDT Australia has announced that it has been awarded a Victorian government grant to assist in the establishment of an Australian-first facility for oncology drugs. In an ASX statement on Monday, IDT said it has established relationships with Antibody-Drug-Conjugate (ADC) biotech companies, including a master services  agreement with Japanese pharmaceutical company Nagase &…

Breakthrough Victoria shells out $12 million for peanut allergy treatment developer Aravax

The Victorian government-funded Breakthrough Victoria has made a $12 million investment into Aravax, part of a $66 million funding round in the biotechnology company, which is developing a novel peanut allergy treatment. Aravax is a clinical-stage company developing PVX108, its immunotherapy product that uses synthetic peptides to mimic key parts of peanut proteins to retrain…

Gradually getting under your skin

By Brent Balinski Nobody is exactly keen on getting a needle, and getting rid of them is an old idea.  Some articles trace an alternative, microarray patches, back to the 1970s, but today we still generally get our vaccines and various other drugs the old way – jabbed into our muscles.  Ideas are easy, but…

Moderna launches mRNA Platform Incubator Network

US-based biotech company Moderna has announced the launch of the mRNA Platform Incubator Network, linking Australian organisations with strength in translational and pharmaceutical science, early-phase clinical trials and regulatory science.  According to the maker of the Spikevax COVID‑19 vaccine, the group aims to “advance mRNA medicine, foster scientific excellence in clinical translation in Australia and…

Vaxxas awarded $5.4 million for typhoid vaccine clinical studies

Needle-free vaccine delivery company Vaxxas has announced it was awarded $5.4 million from charitable foundation Wellcome for initial studies and a  Phase I clinical trial of a potential second-generation typhoid vaccine delivered using Vaxxas’ technology. In a statement on Thursday, the Brisbane-based clinical-stage company said the project is expected to be completed within two years,…