A medical manufacturing facility equipped to produce therapeutics for clinical trials will be built in Brisbane with up to $60 million in funding from the Queensland Government.
The facility, known as Translational Manufacturing@TRI (TM@TRI), will be based next to the Translational Research Institute, the Princess Alexandra Hospital, and Thermo Fisher Scientific’s clinical and commercial manufacturing facility.
The Translational Research Institute is a collaboration between Metro South Health, The University of Queensland, the Queensland University of Technology, and Mater Research.
TM@TRI will support early-stage companies that are developing new therapies – including vaccines and medicines – by providing high-tech manufacturing suitable for clinical trials.
Queensland’s Deputy Premier and Minister for State Development, Infrastructure, Local Government and Planning, Steven Miles, said TM@TRI would help keep medical technology start-up companies in Australia.
“At the moment, a lot of our small and medium-sized MedTech start-ups are forced to move offshore because they can’t manufacture their medical products at a large enough scale to support phase II and III clinical trials here in Australia,” said Deputy Premier Miles.
“This facility will provide the infrastructure they need to scale up to full production to support late-stage clinical trials, and will therefore help keep our innovative start-ups – and the high-value jobs they create – here in Queensland.
“It will also attract other MedTech start-ups to Brisbane from interstate and overseas.”
Treasurer and the Minister for Trade and Investment, Cameron Dick, said, “Our Government has recognised the importance of ensuring Queensland ideas and knowhow get turned into commercial products in Queensland.
“That’s why we backed Vaxxas, another TRI success story, to ensure their manufacturing facility will be here and not overseas.
“Building on Queensland’s strengths from early-stage research to our internationally recognised clinical trials capabilities, TM@TRI will support Queensland’s growing pipeline of start-ups.”
TRI CEO Professor Scott Bell said, “Last year the Queensland Government announced $20 million towards this facility, which put us within striking distance of building Queensland’s first agile and multifunctional scale-up manufacturing facility capable of producing a broad range for vaccines and medical products.
“With today’s announcement, this facility is now fully funded. With this funding, the State Government is shoring up Queensland’s sovereign manufacturing capabilities, and, in particular, our ability to develop new vaccines and medical treatments locally.”