2017 - Brandon Capital

13 December 2017

New Zealand biomedical discovery set to revolutionise the global pain relief drug market

Commercialisation Fund (MRCF) today announces an investment of NZD$8 million in Series A funding for Kea Therapeutics Ltd., an early stage pharmaceutical company which is developing a new drug for the relief of severe pain. Kea Therapeutics is a spin-out of the Auckland Cancer Society Research Centre (ACSRC) and Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences […]

1 December 2017

Brandon Capital tests reverse brain drain theory

Finally the venture capital industry has a reliable litmus test for the propensity of top talent in life sciences and medical devices looking to return home. Brandon Capital, the Melbourne-based venture capital investor with $530 million in funds under management, is in the market for two new portfolio managers. Managing director Chris Nave says Brandon […]

14 November 2017

Venture capitalist Mark Carnegie leads $65m wireless pacemaker funding

Venture capitalist Mark Carnegie was alerted years ago by a science adviser to a Californian developer of a wireless heart pacemaker that could save the lives of some patients, but he baulked at the terms. Every month the adviser would call Mr Carnegie and say, “I have got another CRT patient who is going to […]

17 October 2017

Azura Opthalmics raises $20m from Brandon Capital, others for dry eye cure

One of the year’s biggest investments in an Australian biotech is for one of medicine’s great unsolved problems: dry eye disease. Sydney-based Azura Opthalmics has raised $US16 million ($20.3 million) to advance clinical trials of a treatment for meibomian gland dysfunction (MGD), the culprit in more than 70 per cent of dry eye cases. “Having […]

5 October 2017

Brandon Capital breaks even in biotech milestone

A milestone for Australia’s life sciences venture capital industry will be achieved this month when the dozen members of Brandon Capital’s investment team receive their first profit share cheque, a decade after the manager formed. A staged payment from one of Brandon’s most successful seed investments – Spinifex Pharmaceuticals, maker of a chronic pain treatment […]

5 June 2017

UQ breast cancer drug maker QUE Oncology raises $21.5m from Medical Research Commercialisation Fund

The Medical Research Commercialisation fund has led a $21.5 million raise into anti-cancer therapies company QUE Oncology, funding the development of a drug that stops breast cancer survivors suffering hot flushes during endocrine treatments. The company was founded in 2013 as a joint venture established by Emory University in Atlanta and the University of Queensland’s […]

29 May 2017

Brandon Capital on board as Parkinson’s smartwatch firm Global Kinetics seeks $30 million

Emerging Australian medtech success story Global Kinetics is raising $20-30 million to keep commercialising its smartwatch-style Parkinson’s treatment device. The company is also working on an expansion into telehealth in partnership with French hospitals and developing an app to give Parkinson’s patients more control over their own treatment. The latest capital raise follows a $14.8 million […]

23 May 2017

Researchers backed with $6.3 million in hunt for a cure to the common cold

A cure for the sniffles has long eluded science, but research teams in Newcastle and Melbourne have just received $6.3 million for trials of a molecule they hope can block the virus that causes three-quarters of all colds. The culprit that the scientists from Hunter Medical Research Institute (HMRI) and University of Melbourne are after is rhinovirus, […]

16 May 2017

Mike Daniell joins board of Australasia’s largest life sciences fund

The former Fisher & Paykel boss spent his whole working career commercialising medical R&D. Former Fisher & Paykel Healthcare chief executive Mike Daniell has joined the board of Australasia’s largest life science venture capital fund. The Medical Research Commercialisation Fund was set up in late 2007 in a collaboration between major Australian superannuation funds and […]

16 May 2017

457 visa crackdown derails drug to cure blindness

Things looked great for Xianzhong Lau a month ago. The 30-year-old Singaporean had completed a PhD in translational biology and snared a job as a project leader with a company founded by one of Australia’s top life sciences entrepreneurs, Darren Kelly. All he needed was the 457 visa that he had already applied for to […]

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