Restoring Australia’s long-term innovation requires investment in basic research
Rosemary S. Harrison A , Ross T. Barnard B * and Lisette Pregelj BA TCR2 Therapeutics, 100 Binney Street, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA.
B School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, Qld 4072, Australia.
Dr Rosemary Harrison is a Biotechnology executive with nearly 20 years of global experience working on pharmaceutical corporate strategy, portfolio management and business development. She is currently Chief Business and Strategy Officer at TCR2 Therapeutics (NASDAQ: TCRR) in Boston, USA, responsible for driving a range of activities including strategy, operational planning, corporate partnerships and long-term growth opportunities. Dr Harrison holds a Bachelor of Biotechnology in Drug Design and Development (Hons, UQ Medal) and a PhD from The University of Queensland. |
Emeritus Professor Ross Barnard, FASM, was director of the biotechnology program at the University of Queensland from 2000 to 2019. Prior to that he was at Panbio Ltd (as program leader for nucleic acid diagnostics development) and the Cooperative Research Centre for Diagnostic Technologies. He has worked on diagnostics development for a variety of infectious agents. In 2005, he undertook a sabbatical at the Australian Animal Health Laboratory in Geelong, Vic., Australia (now the Australian Centre for Disease Preparedness), during which time he collaborated on the development of a broad-spectrum, RT-PCR-based Influenza A diagnostic. He was a NHMRC C. J. Martin Fellow at the University of Queensland and the University of California, Santa Cruz. |
Dr Lisette Pregelj is a Lecturer in Biotechnology at The University of Queensland (UQ). Her research and teaching focuses on commercialisation of biotechnology and pharmaceutical innovations, specifically precision medicines and medical devices and the effect of regulation and innovation capabilities on their speed from discovery through to market. She previously held Postdoctoral Research Fellowships with UQ’s Business School and Australian Institute of Business and Economics. |
Microbiology Australia 44(1) 57-61 https://doi.org/10.1071/MA23014
Submitted: 16 January 2023 Accepted: 16 February 2023 Published: 2 March 2023
© 2023 The Author(s) (or their employer(s)). Published by CSIRO Publishing on behalf of the ASM. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND)
Abstract
It is well established that basic research underpins long-term innovation outputs such as transformative drugs and medical devices. However, Australia may be hobbling its long-term innovation capabilities by decreasing investment in basic research. Although there has been recent growth in our local venture capital and biopharmaceutical business sectors (that typically fund applied research and experimental development), both are comparatively undersized. Initiatives are needed to ensure long-term commitment to basic research at globally competitive levels and to ensure that long-term innovation capabilities are supported.
References
[1] Grassano N et al. (2020) The 2020 EU industrial R&D investment scoreboard. Publications Office of the European Union.| Crossref |
[2] Wouters, OJ et al. (2020) Estimated research and development investment needed to bring a new medicine to market, 2009–2018. JAMA 323, 844–853.
| Estimated research and development investment needed to bring a new medicine to market, 2009–2018.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
[3] Kampers, LFC et al. (2021) From innovation to application: bridging the valley of death in industrial biotechnology. Trends Biotechnol 39, 1240–1242.
| From innovation to application: bridging the valley of death in industrial biotechnology.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
[4] Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care (2022) About the MRFF. https://www.health.gov.au/initiatives-and-programs/medical-research-future-fund/about-the-mrff (accessed 25 November 2022)
[5] Australian Investment Council (2022) Australian private capital market overview: a Preqin and Australian Investment Council yearbook 2022. https://aic.co/common/Uploaded% 20files/Yearbooks/Australian-Private-Capital-Market-Overview-A-Preqin-and-Australian-Investment-Council-Yearbook-2022.pdf (accessed 7 November 2022)
[6] Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (2021) Science, technology and patents. OECD. https://www.oecd.org/statistics/data-collection/sciencetechnologyandpatents.htm
[7] World Intellectual Property Organization (2022) Global Innovation Index 2022: what is the future of innovation-driven growth? WIPO, Geneva, Switzerland. https://www.globalinnovationindex.org/home (accessed 7 November 2022)
[8] Bush V (1945) Science. The Endless Frontier. National Science Foundation. https://www.nsf.gov/about/history/EndlessFrontier_w.pdf (accessed 7 November 2022)
[9] Spector, JM et al. (2018) Fundamental science behind today’s important medicines. Sci Transl Med 10, eaaq1787.
| Fundamental science behind today’s important medicines.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
[10] Australian Research Council (2022) NCGP trends: funding overview. https://www.arc.gov.au/funding-research/funding-outcome/grants-dataset/trend-visualisation/ncgp-trends-funding-overview (accessed 2 November 2022)
[11] National Health and Medical Research Council (2022) Research funding statistics and data. https://www.nhmrc.gov.au/funding/data-research/research-funding-statistics-and-data (accessed 12 February 2023)
[12] Alobrah HMH (2016) The association between national innovation systems and therapeutic stem cell companies. PhD thesis, The University of Queensland. https://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:594734
[13] Preqin (2022) 2022 Preqin Global Venture Capital Report. https://www.preqin.com/insights/global-reports/2022-preqin-global-venture-capital-report
[14] Pregelj, L et al. (2020) Working hard or hardly working? Regulatory bottlenecks in developing a COVID-19 vaccine. Trends Biotechnol 38, 943–947.
| Working hard or hardly working? Regulatory bottlenecks in developing a COVID-19 vaccine.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
