New national centre to transform Australia’s homegrown medicine capabilities launches in Melbourne

09 November 2023

MedChem Australia, a first-of-its-kind national initiative connecting three of the nation’s top medicinal chemistry groups from Monash University, WEHI and the University of Sydney, will accelerate promising early-stage drug discovery projects towards clinical trials and, ultimately, create new medicines for a broad range of diseases.

The initiative was established with $9.75 million in funding from the Federal Government’s Medical Research Future Fund, along with more than $5 million from Therapeutic Innovation Australia and the three partners, bringing the project's total seed funding to around $15 million over five years.

Federal Assistant Minister for Health and Aged Care the Hon Ged Kearney MP visited Monash’s Parkville campus, home to the world-leading Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences (MIPS), to meet with the scientists behind MedChem Australia and to mark the official launch of the exciting new initiative.

Globally, Australia has an enviable reputation in biomedical research, but a poor record in translating these discoveries into new homegrown medicines for patients who need them.

MedChem Australia, which is headquartered at Monash, will tap into medicinal chemistry expertise across the three partners to guide projects through the critical early stages of the drug discovery pipeline to translate ‘hits’ into drug candidates with enhanced commercial value.

Director of MedChem Australia, Professor Brendon Monahan said these drug candidates are significantly more attractive to industry, and will catalyse investment to develop home grown, high value medicines, jobs and exports.

MedChem Australia is making its first call for project applications in early December.

Read the full story on the Monash News website.