AusBiotech has wrapped a significant week of bilateral and multilateral engagements at the BIO International Convention 2025 (BIO25) in Boston.
Aligned with the BIO25 theme, 'The World Can’t Wait', AusBiotech echoed the need for urgent action, arguing that the time is now for Australia to harness the potential of its life sciences sector as critical to the future health and wealth of our nation.
AusBiotech and the UK BioIndustry Association (BIA) used their meeting at BIO25 to sign a Memorandum of Understanding focused on enhancing policy alignment and fostering deeper industry collaboration.
This milestone was complemented by a bilateral roundtable, jointly hosted by AusBiotech and BIA at BIO25, that brought together representatives from government, industry, and research.
Roundtable participants shared their views about the potential for a 'BioBridge' between Australia and the UK to expedite the development and commercialisation of innovative medicines, diagnostics, and therapeutics. It followed ongoing engagement about the BioBridge initiative, at both the industry and government levels, reinforcing shared priorities and opportunities for collaboration between the two countries.
“Australia and the UK are already strong and trusted partners in the life sciences sector,” said AusBiotech CEO, Rebekah Cassidy. “Our complementary innovation systems and shared values have enabled deep collaboration across research, commercialisation, and trade. This MOU signals a shared intent to go further — to scale up our partnership and drive mutual growth through innovation.”
As the Australian member of the International Council of Biotechnology Associations, coordinated by BIO, AusBiotech represented Australia’s life science priorities at a number of key roundtables covering topics from clinical trials and manufacturing capability to changing global supply chains.
Ms Cassidy said, “In a changing world, there is a need for robust global co-operation to build a resilient, innovative biopharmaceutical and biotechnology ecosystem that benefits the health of people everywhere. The International Council of Biotechnology Associations plays a critical role in enabling global advocacy on the most important topics across our industry, and AusBiotech is proud to lead Australia’s voice across these discussions.”
As a major sponsor of the Team Australia delegation, AusBiotech helped convene and participated in bilateral and multilateral discussions with a number of international partners, including with the Japan Bioindustry Association, the Japanese Government, and the Taiwan Bio Industry Organization. It also met with industry association peers in Canada and the US to discuss opportunities for future collaboration.
AusBiotech also worked with its members Moderna and Sanofi, and joined the Australian Trade and Investment Commission (Austrade), Department of Industry, Science and Resources, Global Vic, and Canadian officials for site visits to Moderna and Sanofi’s R&D and manufacturing facilities.
Ms Cassidy continued, "The urgency for action was loud and clear on the ground at BIO25. Advancing onshore biotech capability at speed is a priority for all our major peer markets. The time is now for Australia to heed the call with similar urgency.
“Australia’s life sciences sector has the potential to play an important role in a changing global market and AusBiotech is proud to be the super-connector working with our partners across government to link local strengths to global opportunity. We are committed to growing Australia's role in the global biotech ecosystem.
“At AusBiotech, we celebrate our members every day, but events like BIO25 offer a powerful platform to elevate their work, forge new partnerships, and reinforce Australia’s value as a trusted innovation partner.
“Congratulations to everyone who supported Team Australia on the ground at BIO25, including the state governments of New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, Western Australia and South Australia, the Department of Industry, Science and Resources, Austrade, CSIRO and MTPConnect.”