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2 August 2006
Melbourne biotechnology matures Victoria’s Governor welcomes a new chairman and a new era for the BioMelbourne NetworkTonight Governor Professor David de Kretser AO will hand over his chairmanship of the BioMelbourne Network to Dr John Raff, former CEO of Starpharma, one of the performers of Melbourne biotechnology. “Melbourne is arguably Australia’s science capital,” the Governor says. “Our medical research is particularly strong. But to harvest the benefits of much of that research, we need a strong biotechnology sector—companies that can turn our ideas into marketable products, and in the process generate wealth and jobs in Melbourne.” That’s why industry, academia, and government came together in 2001, to create the BioMelbourne Network- to promote Melbourne as a hub of biotechnology, and act as a gateway and network for everyone connected with biotechnology. The results speak for themselves. Today the Network has over 140 members and has grown to be a self funded industry body. “We’ve facilitated over 300 partnering meetings which have generated over $210million in deal flow, and our events have been attended by over 9,000 people,” says Tim Murphy, the Network’s CEO. “But there’s much more to do.” “We need a strong commercial sector to deliver on the promise of Melbourne’s science,” says the Governor. “Important challenges are: to find more early stage funding—so small companies don’t have to rush to an ASX listing; and also to keep building strong links between the researchers and industry.” We also need to get smarter at development funding according to John Raff. “Finding the money to turn a $10 million business into a $100 million business is a bottleneck for growth,” he says. He also wants to see the Network engage better with the agricultural sector. “I see big opportunities in harnessing Victoria’s leadership in agriculture,” says Raff. “We can create great wealth from new crops and new value-added foods. But three things are standing in the way: - we need a rational regulatory environment, - we need Victoria’s agricultural researchers to engage with industry—as their medical colleagues already do. They need to collaborate with industry, not compete. - and we need to bring Australian retailers along with us—giving new Australian food products the shelf space they need to get started.” “The BioMelbourne Network has brought medical researchers and industry closer together to solve similar issues. My first major challenge is to do the same with agricultural biotechnology, and build on Victoria’s dual strengths in agriculture and science,” says John Raff. Background information:The BioMelbourne Network: - attracted over 140 members
across biotech company, academic and business services sectors The biotechnology industry in Victoria Victoria is home to: - 130 biotech
companies, with public company market capitalisation of over $16billion and
including Australia’s largest biopharmaceutical companies CSL Ltd and Mayne
Pharma. John Raff, Dip. Ag. Sc., B.Sc., Ph.D. DEPUTY CHAIRMAN John Raff is the Deputy Chairman and founder of Starpharma Holdings Ltd. Previously, he was General Manager of the Biomolecular Research Institute from 1990 to 1997. John Raff received a Ph.D. from Melbourne University in 1982 for molecular biology studies on cell recognition systems, under the supervision of Professor Adrienne Clarke. He is the co-founder, director and major shareholder of a technology-based agricultural seed company with subsidiary operations in India. John Raff is also founder and investor in a number of start-up technology companies. John retired from the role of Starpharma CEO in July this year. He had been one of the longest serving biotech CEOs in Australia having been in the role since the company was established. He has been the driving force in taking Starpharma from a small start-up to a company with a developing clinical pipeline of pharmaceutical products, and valuable equity in two complementary businesses in US based DNT and Australian company Dimerix Bioscience.
Media
contact:
Tim
Murphy, Chief Executive Officer,
tmurphy@biomelbourne.org, 03 9650 8800, |
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