The four winners of The Bridge Program pitch competition who will head to the United States to further their knowledge of how to bring new medicines to patients were announced at the program’s 2019 Symposium held in Melbourne.
Now in its third year, the QUT-delivered Bridge Program supports researchers and entrepreneurs to enhance their skills and build networks to help them successfully commercialise new pharmaceuticals. The program is funded by government body MTPConnect and a consortium of pharmaceutical, industry and university partners.
In the Symposium lead-up, program participants were invited to submit a 2-minute video pitch for the chance to tour the US headquarters of pharmaceutical companies and program consortium partners AbbVie, Amgen, MSD and Novartis.
Heading to the US as pitch winners will be Pradeep Sadasivan Pillai (James Cook University), Kate Samardzic (BioLink Australia), Yuen Chang (Murdoch Children’s Research Institute) and James Tran (RMIT University).
Over three days at the successful Symposium, 85 program participants heard from almost 30 speakers on all aspects of the pharmaceutical commercialisation pathway, from drug discovery through biotech to delivery to patients.
Brett Roberts, Head of Strategic Partnerships at Novartis and Bridge consortium representative said: “The 2019 Symposium in Melbourne epitomised the collaborative nature of the program, with speakers from each of the 10 consortium members.
“Novartis has been involved with the program since its inception in 2017. We are a proud supporter of this unique course that connects researchers and industry in order to give rise to commercialisation opportunities here on Australian shores.”
Listen to the MTP Connect podcast here from the Symposium with two of the pitch competition winners, as well as Bridge Program Director and Executive Director of QUT’s Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation Professor Lyn Griffiths and Amgen Director Access, Value and Policy Sean Lybrand.
The closing event for the 2019 program participants will be held at AbbVie’s offices in Sydney on December 5, with details of the 2020 program announced at the event.
About The Bridge Program
The program selects 100 participants annually from across Australia to take part in face-to-face and online training in the various components that contribute to the commercialisation of new medicines.
Covering the scientific, legal, financial, clinical, regulatory and reimbursement elements of pharmaceutical commercialisation, the program is available to researchers, entrepreneurs and associated professionals from the pharmaceutical ecosystem in Australia.
Consortium partners with QUT and MTPConnect are: Amgen; AbbVie; CSL; Johnson & Johnson; Macquarie University; Medicines Australia; MSD; Novartis; and Pfizer.
Media contacts:
Ren Smith, The Bridge Program, 0439 339 172 and ren.smith@qut.edu.au
QUT Media, 0407 585 901 and media@qut.edu.au