Budget boost for Queensland-made vaccines
Queensland’s burgeoning vaccine-manufacturing sector will receive a boost in next week’s state budget, with the Translational Research Institute to receive $35.5 million to help local research become local manufacturing.
Treasurer Cameron Dick was at TRI, near the Princess Alexandra Hospital, for the pre-budget announcement on Thursday and said the COVID-19 pandemic had taught the biomedical industry some major lessons.
Researchers at the Translational Research Institute in Brisbane.Credit:Lukas Coch/AAP
“At times when we cannot rely on the international supply chain, we must rely on ourselves and we must rely on great start-up companies that are growing quickly,” he said.
The announcement came a month after concerns were raised about TRI’s funding shortfall, which Deputy Premier Steven Miles blamed on the then-Morrison government.
Dick said there were 1200 companies in Queensland sector looking to scale up and employ about 12,500 people.
Brisbane’s Translational Research Institute wants to demonstrate Queensland’s “Smart State” credentials.
And the Labor treasurer could not resist a thinly veiled swipe at former prime minister Scott Morrison, who famously said Australia’s vaccine procurement was “not a race”, in the process.
“We are in a race,” Dick said. “We are in a race to make sure we take Queensland know-how, that maroon know how, and turn it into maroon business products.”
Dick said the biomedical sector contributed $2.1 billion to the Queensland economy each year and had an export value of about $450 million.
“You might have an idea, but how do you make that commercial? You’ve got to go through the clinical trials to ensure the product is safe,” he said.
“So start-up to scale-up, which is often the most difficult obstacle to commercialise an idea and by investing in this brand-new facility dedicated to that, we can help these companies take it to the next level.
“Multiple levels, hopefully.”
Translational Research Institute chief executive Professor Scott Bell said the new facility would provice small- and medium-size medical technology companies to manufacture at a larger scale, to support phase two and three clinical trials.
Bell said it would also allow companies to develop products in Australia, which would help secure the nation’s access to vaccines and treatments going forward.
“Australia punches above its weight in medical and scientific research, but we do lag behind in turning our promising scientific discoveries into new drugs and treatments for the health of our community,” he said.
“At the moment, we don’t have the infrastructure in Australia to flexibly manufacture a range of promising new therapies and vaccines in sufficient quantities for late stage clinical trials.
“This means, in some cases, our scientific discoveries are licensed to multinational pharmaceutical companies based overseas.
“Thus, our local start-up companies may be forced to move offshore, because they simply can’t manufacture sufficient of their products here in Australia.
“This means we lose our locally grown start-up companies lose highly skilled jobs, and we lose our intellectual property, which often means later we have to buy back that in the form of drugs and vaccines.”