The two Australia universities come together to create a biomedical research enterprise called M2 Venture Catalyst with the backing of the state of Victoria.
Monash University and Melbourne University have partnered to create an A$80m ($59m) biomedical research enterprise named M2 Venture Catalyst.
M2 will be jointly owned by the two universities but run by an independent board, chaired by John Brumby, former premier of Victoria and a fellow at both universities.
The enterprise will support companies, increase investment and exports and create specialised jobs. In total it is expected to generate approximately A$360m.
Funding for the venture came from the two universities, which provided a combined A$50. The state of Victoria contributed A$10m, while further capital is being sought from trusts and charities.
Bill Charman, director of Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, said: “Our new enterprise uses the combined research expertise, and infrastructure, of the two universities as a strong pipeline of high quality drug targets and drug candidates, along with the objective perspective of an independent entity which can then rapidly progress this forward to more advanced and then externally-funded stages of development.”
Danny Hoyer, Melbourne University’s chairman and head of department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics, said: “A wide range of drug candidates are currently at preclinical or early clinical stages at both universities.
“The targeted diseases range from Preeclampsia, a potentially fatal condition in pregnancy, to various forms of epilepsy and other devastating neurological diseases, severe kidney, lung and cardiovascular disorders as well as a range of cancers and infectious diseases.
“This new enterprise will enable some of these and other transformational drug candidates to become a medical and commercial reality, by combining expertise and scale of both partners.”
