August 4, 2025 • 25 mins
As the world’s largest biotech partnering event took place in Boston in June, MTPConnect was there introducing an Australian delegation to the Boston ecosystem, hosting business events to drive international collaborations and leading the Australian Pavilion to highlight Australia's fast-growing life sciences sector to the international biotech industry.
Our CEO Stuart Dignam was on the ground to find out why people are making the trip to BIO and what the buzz is all about.
In this episode, Stuart speaks to Brent Owens, co-founder of Ballarat-based Vitrafy Life Sciences – a company pioneering cryopreservation technology and Brent Barnes, CEO and Manager Director of Adelaide-based Clever Culture Systems - inventor of APAS Independence, an intelligent microbiology culture plate reading technology that is revolutionising pharmaceutical lab work. These Australian start-ups have established a foothold in the US and are looking to expand and navigate the new tariff regime.
Stuart also catches up with Professor Chris Molloy from the UK’s Medicines Discovery Catapult to get his take on BIO and find out more about the BIOBridge initiative and why collaboration is key to solving the world’s health challenges.
For the support and partnership, MTPConnect would like to thank the state governments of NSW, Victoria, Queensland, Western Australia and South Australia, and the Department of Industry, Science and Resources, Austrade, CSIRO and AusBiotech.
And thanks for the industry support from Moderna, Novartis, Australia & New Zealand, Cytiva, Sanofi, Arrotex Pharmaceuticals and Nutromics, and support for MTPConnect’s Australian delegation site visit program from CSL and Global Pharma Solutions.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Natalie Vella (00:01):
This is the MTP Connect podcast, connecting you
with the people behind thelife-saving innovations driving
Australia's growing lifesciences sector from bench to
bedside for better health andwell-being.
Mtp Connect acknowledges thetraditional owners of country
that this podcast is recorded onand recognises that Aboriginal
(00:23):
and Torres Strait Islanderpeoples are Australia's first
storytellers and the holders offirst science knowledge.
Caroline Duell (00:32):
Hello and welcome to the MTP Connect
podcast.
I'm Caroline Duell.
As the world's largest biotechpartnering event took place in
Boston in June, MTP Connect wasthere introducing an Australian
delegation to the Bostonecosystem, hosting business
events to drive internationalcollaborations and leading the
Australian Pavilion to highlightAustralia's fast-growing life
(00:56):
sciences sector to theinternational biotech industry.
Our CEO, Stuart Dignam, wasthere on the ground, discovering
why people make the effort todo business at Bio and what the
buzz is all about.
Stuart spoke to a couple ofAustralian start-ups that have
established a foothold in the USand are already exporting,
looking to expand and navigatethe new tariff regime.
(01:18):
First up, let's hear from BrentOwens, co-founder of
Ballarat-based Vitrify LifeSciences, a company pioneering
cryopreservation technology.
Brent Owens (01:32):
My name is Brent Owens.
I am one of the co-founders anddeputy CEO of Vitrify Life
Sciences, a cryopreservationtechnology company founded in
Ballarat, regional Victoria, andnow headquartered in Melbourne,
Victoria.
Stuart Dignam (01:44):
Can you just tell us a bit about?
Brent Owens (01:46):
your actual product .
What is it?
Yeah, so fundamentally, in itssimplest form, we have a
cryopreservation freezing device.
So the critical phase whichcauses a lot of the cellular
death, is the process offreezing.
So it's not once it's stored,it's the process of freezing and
how you change that temperaturefrom a liquid to a solid.
(02:07):
We have a system that cancontrol that, use a series of
inputs to be able to reconfigurethat and tailor it in a very
novel way to mitigate a lot ofthose problems that occur with
legacy systems.
So we have a freezing deviceand we have a software platform
that goes with that to enablethat intelligence to be executed
in the device itself.
Stuart Dignam (02:28):
And when it comes time to use that frozen product
, how do you unfreeze it, and isthat tricky as well.
Brent Owens (02:37):
It is Well if you think about at home.
If you thaw out a frozenchicken, it often leaves all the
liquid at the bottom.
That's essentially the cellsexploding and dying.
It's the same in biologicalmaterials that are used for
human health.
Thawing or defrosting isessentially as important as the
(02:58):
freezing process.
So we have our own thawingtechnology as well to do the
back end of it, so that the celldamage doesn't occur when it's
thawed out as well.
It's equally as important asfreezing.
Stuart Dignam (03:10):
So if I was to go around the US and wherever else
in the world, where would I seeyour product being used?
Brent Owens (03:19):
I would say primarily next to every
collection bed that there iswhere blood is collected, where
raw material for cell and genetherapy production is collected.
Yeah, that's the primary place.
Secondly would be where they aCDMO, where they manufacture
those products into drugs andused in research and the likes
as well.
Stuart Dignam (03:39):
And being a Melbourne company and with a big
operation in Ballarat, how doyou manage that when you're
supplying global markets?
Brent Owens (03:50):
I guess there's the novelty of what we do is
providing quality outcomes, andthat's not just selling someone
a piece of equipment and thensaying see you later.
We want to stay close tocustomer continuous improvement
and always innovating, andthat's a key part of we want to.
We started by innovating and wewant to continue to innovate.
(04:10):
The site in Ballarat isessentially the innovation and
optimization center, so when westarted and through the first
founding years, it waseverything because that was our
only site.
As it's evolved, we've stillgot a lot of our know-how, ip
capability and productdevelopment skill sets based in
Ballarat, and they'll continueto operate that site as an
(04:31):
innovation and optimisation hub.
How many staff have you got?
We're pushing into 30 now, soit is growing.
We think that we're probablygoing to be closer to 40 by the
end of the year.
That's more in North America,though, as we build out.
So yeah, we're growing.
Stuart Dignam (04:47):
And obviously and it's been the talk of this
conference there are a fewtariff issues going on, a few,
you know, trade-type issues,regulatory issues with the FDA
and staffing and so forth.
What are your?
Brent Owens (05:02):
You must be keeping an eye on that for the good of
your business Absolutely, and Ithink you have to focus on what
you can control.
The rest you just have to adapt.
That's the way it is.
So one way that we've looked atde-risking is ensuring that we
have US-based manufacturing.
That's a core part of it.
We've got significantcollaborators in the US
(05:26):
government that would require USmanufacturing anyway.
So there's multiple data pointsthat sort of mean that we
should have a US manufacturingcapability, of which we do.
Stuart Dignam (05:37):
So I talk to a lot of start-ups and SMEs and
they're all, by and large,either have some sort of a
presence in the US or arelooking for a presence in the US
, or are looking for a presencein the US.
Are there particular states orcities that make it easier for
you to make a decision aboutwhere you're going to be based?
Any observations on that?
Brent Owens (05:57):
Yeah, there's a few different things to consider.
I think that you know, abovethe and beyond the standard
things like tax and capabilityand skills and those types of
things we have to consider timezone differences, logistics,
because we do fly people out,and I guess there's only a few
areas that you would really wantto focus on with that and
(06:21):
manufacturing and logisticsbeing on the west coast.
But naturally, biotech is onthe east coast, where we are
right now.
So maybe somewhere in between,like austin, texas or somewhere
like that, there's a lot ofmilitary personnel down in texas
as well, so that makes sense tous.
But that's the benefit of bioeveryone's pitching for us to be
(06:41):
at their location, so I guessthat gives us a choice and have
you found boston Just gettingaround this ecosystem?
Stuart Dignam (06:48):
you know they say Kendall Square is the most
innovative square mile on theplanet and there's lots of money
around here.
And how have you found it.
Brent Owens (06:57):
I do love Boston.
I find that it actually isquite similar to Melbourne when
it's summer, not so much whenit's winter, but I like it's
clean, good people, smart people.
It's progressive, open toinnovation, welcome innovation,
because it's an innovative city.
I would say that it's thebiotech hub of the world really
(07:19):
and it's worthwhile having somepresence here because networking
and the networks here is sortof a could be a make or break
type thing.
That's how.
That's how important boston is.
Stuart Dignam (07:30):
I got one more question in all of your dealings
with all of your clients overhere, does the team australia
brand?
Does that resonate in yourdiscussions?
Brent Owens (07:39):
it does and I actually expanding on I would
say it's.
I try and echo that myself.
I do believe that Australia asa nation has the capability to
be world leading in some areas,particularly research, supplying
, APAC, expanding the US.
But I don't think it's anindividual company style.
I think it is a nationalstrategy and people do resonate
(08:03):
with that because they oftendon't know a lot about Australia
, they see it as one place.
They don't really go asgranular as state by state and
the nuances within it.
I think you lose people whenyou go to that level.
So speaking as one nation, Ithink is a really powerful
message that we should continueto talk like that.
Stuart Dignam (08:25):
Great to learn more about your company and what
you're doing, and best of luck.
Brent Owens (08:29):
Excellent, thank you.
Stuart Dignam (08:30):
Appreciate it.
Brent Barnes (08:33):
Brent Barnes, clever Culture Systems, proudly
headquartered in Adelaide, southAustralia, so we automate
culture plate reading.
So when we think aboutmanufacturing of biological
drugs, those manufacturingprocesses are done in a clean
room, and so our technologyautomates a really critical part
of that manufacturing workflow.
Ultimately, that ties intoreleasing safe and effective
drugs to patients all around theworld.
(08:55):
And so you know, when we talkabout manufacturing we get high
interest around this criticalprocess, and so that's what we
do.
Stuart Dignam (09:03):
And I should you know, in the interest of full
disclosure, mtp Connectedprovides some funding early on
for the development of yourcompany.
So how's business, brent?
Brent Barnes (09:13):
Look really good.
The US is a big market.
For us it's an important market.
It's the first time we've cometo bio and you know I can't get
over the scale of thisconference.
You think all the largestpharmaceutical companies in the
world are here with their keydecision makers, ceos,
presidents.
What have you from big pharmaall the way through to kind of
startups.
It's a lot of energy here.
Stuart Dignam (09:34):
And how do you approach kind of navigating that
madness?
Brent Barnes (09:37):
Yeah, a lot of preparation kind of goes into
these conferences ahead of time.
So the partnering session isobviously good ahead of time.
So the partnering session isobviously good.
But then there's a lot ofresources that you know through
MTP Connect actually, andthrough, you know, austrade,
have been able to help kind ofget these meetings set up ahead
of time.
But really a lot of preparation.
The days that we're here iskind of the outcome of really
what has been weeks ofpreparation ahead of this.
Stuart Dignam (09:57):
And the quality of the meetings that you've got
and the engagements that you'vehad.
Is it helping grow yourbusiness?
Brent Barnes (10:05):
For us it's varied , to be honest.
I think for our company we hadsome really important meetings
set up that were critical forkind of our strategy going
forward.
And then there's a bunch ofmeetings that you kind of fill
in around that.
So you know, it's always hardto tell.
I wouldn't say there's 100%kind of hit rate here, but you
know, I think the key meetingswere important.
That's there's a hundredpercent kind of hit rate here,
(10:26):
but you know, I think the keymeetings were important.
That's why we were here.
And then there's, you know,been a portfolio of meetings
that have kind of differentlevels of interest and tell us
about your interest in the USmarket in particular.
Yeah, I mean the US is thelargest single market for us.
All of the big pharmaheadquarters that we're dealing
with are typically kind of havesome presence here, and so you
know I'm probably here three orfour times a year.
(10:47):
We have got a local resourcehere in the US looking to kind
of expand and as a platform, asa platform to grow.
Stuart Dignam (10:54):
And I know you do have some really good contracts
with certain companies thateither will be named or not.
How has that helped in thegrowth of your company?
Brent Barnes (11:04):
It's a tremendous help.
So AstraZeneca are ourbeachhead customer, you know,
and it's really great to be ableto say we launched this product
a year ago.
They've now bought nine of ourinstruments.
They've rolled it out to theirlargest manufacturing site.
So we're talking multiplecountries all around the world
and multiple instruments, andwhen you've got a name like that
, it certainly gets people'sattention.
(11:26):
And also, bristol-myers Square.
We've got a couple of siteshere now that are using it here
in the US.
So that's a very relevantdiscussion as well.
Stuart Dignam (11:32):
You can't avoid the tariff talk and the whole
kind of shifting of the tectonicplates of this sector in the US
.
How have you approached that?
Everybody's talking about ithere.
Brent Barnes (11:46):
Yeah, so we've had a couple of shipments that have
had the tariffs kind of placedon it.
It hasn't been an issue for us.
I kind of taking a step back.
If you Google like pharmamanufacturing in the US, you'll
see billions of dollars ofinvestment.
So actually what it's createdis an avalanche of investment
coming here into the US, whereyou've got pharmaceutical
companies expanding existingfacilities, building new
(12:07):
greenfield sites but looking tooptimise their workflow along
the way.
So it's actually quitebrilliant for us.
We see this as a realopportunity in years to come.
Stuart Dignam (12:15):
To come here.
Brent Barnes (12:16):
Absolutely yeah.
Stuart Dignam (12:17):
That's terrific, and I must ask you about the
pavilion, the Team Australiapresence.
Does that assist you with thework that you're doing here at
Bayer?
Brent Barnes (12:27):
It's always great to have a home base, and for
Team Australia, what has beenreally intriguing is having
meetings of my own and peopletalk about Team Australia or
Australian companies, and youknow just how excited they were
about it.
So you know we have a bigpresence here and that has its
own energy associated with it,and it's also amazing you find
(12:47):
yourself collaborating with theAustralians that you don't get
that opportunity to when you'reat home, and so it's another
great way of actually kind ofdoing that local business
development.
Stuart Dignam (12:56):
You know, here in Boston yeah, it is like team is
the operative word.
It becomes a bit of a team, abit of a community and we all
help each other navigate thiscrazy conference.
Brent Barnes (13:05):
Yeah, we absolutely do, it's.
Great.
Stuart Dignam (13:08):
Brent, thank you and thanks for joining the
podcast and continued good luckwith your business.
Brent Barnes (13:13):
You too.
Thanks, Stuart.
Chris Molloy (13:16):
Hi, I'm Chris Malloy, Chief Executive of the
Medicines Discovery Catapult inthe UK.
Stuart Dignam (13:20):
Now, Chris.
Why are you at Bio in Boston?
Chris Molloy (13:24):
This is where the industry comes to spawn and it's
the place where you have a hugeconcentration effect, so you
can understand what the marketis feeling, what it's wanting,
where its demand signals are,the zeitgeist, the, the investor
confidence, and that helps youplot a course to the future.
Stuart Dignam (13:42):
We're here at a most interesting time.
What intelligence have youpicked up about where we are at
as a sector and maybe about theway we are engaging with each
other globally?
Chris Molloy (13:55):
The world has changed.
The competitive forces thatwere alive for the last 20 years
have been fundamentally changed.
Where the world is looking nowfor a source of its new
molecules is changing, and thevalue of those licensing
agreements is changing.
So some of the big structuralelements that have held this
(14:19):
market together for a generationare now uncertain, and for that
reason it's all the moreimportant that those of a like
mind and shared cultures andvalues build bridges to help
them do their R&D moreeffectively and ultimately, to
get medicines to patients faster.
Stuart Dignam (14:41):
You wouldn't mean a bio bridge, would you?
Chris Molloy (14:43):
Bio bridge is exactly what I mean.
So what we must do, and what weshould do in a Commonwealth for
Common Health, is make surethat our biotechs and our
services companies have theminimum friction to work with
each other and to help eachother get those medicines to
patients more quickly.
And I think that the work ofgovernments, the work of
(15:03):
regulators and the work ofagents of change is aligned
around that now, and all themore so with the geopolitical
situation that we face.
Stuart Dignam (15:13):
Yeah, it's not a question of things are shifting.
They have shifted and now isthe time to kind of reimagine
how we do business, really.
Chris Molloy (15:24):
Yeah there's no reverse gear on this, so we've
all got to look forward to howwe're going to be developing new
, more complex, more precise,more targeted medicines for a
global market in a changed world, and I think it's fair to say
that no one has the absoluteanswer to this.
But what we do need to do ismake sure that we, outside bio
(15:49):
and this convention, have aconcentration based effect
that's going to deliver realvalue, and I think the BioBridge
program helps to do that.
Stuart Dignam (15:57):
Let's talk about that a little bit.
I mean, we've been talkingabout it for a while.
What is the opportunity fromcreating a BioBridge?
I know Australia and the UK.
You know we've got heritage, weknow each other, we like each
other, we're used to dealingwith each other.
Kind of makes sense.
But what tangible benefitscould come from us establishing
(16:19):
a well-nurtured, well-supportedbio bridge?
Chris Molloy (16:23):
It's about getting medicines to patients faster.
If we're not doing that, thenwe've lost our North Star, we've
lost our purpose.
So the tangible benefits, I hope, of a bio bridge, which
leverage the access consortiumof our regulators, is to make
sure we can domulti-jurisdictional R&D from
the get-go, increasing assetvalues for everybody, increasing
(16:45):
access to services, increasingaccess to co-investment.
And these really tangibleactivities make money move and
they make medicines move, andthat is what every bridge that's
ever been built does.
And governments build bridges,companies and people then use
them.
And it's the role, I think, ofthose of us all who are agents
(17:08):
in this to create those highwayswith minimum friction that
allow companies to move mosteffectively.
And we're not playing sort oftug of war between our nations
with biotech companies.
We're enabling them to go toand fro across the bridge in a
two-way traffic that gets theirR&D done in a most efficient way
(17:31):
, in the fastest way andprovides more visibility to
investors.
And only if we do that will wereally maximize the value of the
access consortium of ourregulators, the free trade
agreements that we have betweenour governments and the agents
of change on in both ends of thebridge who want to make this
happen yeah, it's.
Stuart Dignam (17:51):
uh, it's kind of like if you've ever had a bold
idea, now is the time to back itin.
Never been a better time to doit and that focus on a patient
and better health, betterwell-being, living longer,
better that's kind of what'smotivating all of us.
Chris Molloy (18:11):
Yeah, it is what gets most people who are here
today out of bed every singleday.
And we've got to not justbelieve it and talk single day.
And we we've got to not justbelieve it and talk about it,
but we've got to act upon it.
And that's really my purposehere at bio to build those
relationships to allow us tobuild the blueprints for those
bridges and make them realizableso that everyone goes.
(18:33):
Yeah, you know, I use thebridge, didn't we always?
And there are so manyactivities that go on that each
country, each of our nationsdoes to aid biotech, to try and
make multi-jurisdictional work,and what the BioBridge program
is doing is trying to pull allof those into one place and one
space.
Stuart Dignam (18:51):
You worked with us on our diagnostics action
plan, and a key element of thatwas kind of a one-stop shop to
just cut through everything sopeople could know what to do,
when to do it, how to do it.
That's kind of a version ofthis, isn't it?
Chris Molloy (19:07):
Absolutely it is.
You need a safe landing space.
Companies who come to a newjurisdiction to do part of their
multi-jurisdictional R&D thereneed to know who's who.
They need a concierge service.
They need folks who understandtheir own landscape and are
willing to help others bed intoit, and so there's a service
(19:30):
element to this, no doubt.
And if we can be at the servicenot just of our own services
companies and our own biotechs,but those Commonwealth for
Common Health partners that wehave, then really everybody wins
.
And in all of these thingsthere are stuff that is at risk
and stuff that we can gain, andeveryone just needs to, I think,
(19:53):
hold hands around this in very,very uncertain times and, as
you said, now is the time forbold ideas and just getting it
done 100% and really pleased tobe chatting with you here at Bio
.
Stuart Dignam (20:08):
What about your day job?
How's things going back in theUK with the catapult?
Chris Molloy (20:13):
So the Medicines Discovery catapult continues to
deliver for its community, andits community is national as
well as international.
We do three things.
We de-risk new technologiesthat will drive productivity in
R&D and we make sure that theyare adopted through our services
business.
Secondly, we work with youngcompanies and make them fit to
(20:34):
fund by giving them robustindustry class R&D plans, access
to technology and, in somecases, access to capital.
And then we run ambitiousnational and international R&D
collaborative programmes inareas that industry finds a high
risk in dementia, in psychiatry, in AMR, in cystic fibrosis and
(20:54):
develop unique virtualinstitutes in areas like complex
medicines delivery.
These things, we hope, addvalue to the community.
They certainly allow companiesto access money and we've worked
with many hundreds of companiesacross the UK and helped them
leverage about £1.3 billionworth of private investment.
And that making money move,making medicines move is our
(21:19):
motivation.
Stuart Dignam (21:20):
It's the notion that if we can accelerate a
company to be successfulcommercially, that means they've
brought their drug to themarket for the benefit of a
patient.
So it's a commercial success,but also a win for a patient.
Chris Molloy (21:37):
It absolutely is as the end game.
But we've all got to recognisethat if we're talking about
early stage biotech, that can beat some distance from clinical
delivery and marketability.
However, value for a biotechcan be measured in other ways
too the licensing deals, thefundraisings that progress
(21:58):
towards that marketability andpatient access.
Marketability and patientaccess.
So we've got to look at thatand say, can we make sure that
every single one of our biotechswhose science meets a demand
signal is made fit to fund?
Because there's only one reasonin any of our nations that
biotechs should fail and that isif the science doesn't meet the
(22:21):
demand signal that a patienthas.
There is no other good excusethat I have seen for why a
biotech should fail.
They were in the wrong place,they didn't know what they
didn't know, they didn't haveaccess.
These, I find, are unacceptableexcuses for the failure of
companies whose science couldsave lives.
Stuart Dignam (22:38):
So, as you're walking around this conference
and taking the meetings thatyou're taking, walking around
this conference and taking themeetings that you're taking, are
you finding there's a kind of aconsensus around everybody's
trying to build bridges to newplaces, taking advantage of new
opportunities because of thechanges that are occurring?
Chris Molloy (22:54):
I think, yes, some of that's a reaction, some of
it is more forward thinking, amore deliberative, and I think
the the deliberative discussionsthat we have been having with
with Commonwealth partners overthe last year or so under the
free trade agreement that thatwe have, particularly between
the UK and Australia, enablesthose discussions to move from
(23:19):
theory to delivery, and that'swhat I want to see in the next
12 months before we're in bio inSan Diego.
Stuart Dignam (23:26):
And maybe we can be making some announcements in
San Diego this time next year.
Chris, thank you so much forchatting to the podcast.
Chris Molloy (23:33):
Great pleasure.
Thanks very much.
Great to see you.
Caroline Duell (23:36):
That was Professor Chris Molloy from the
Medicines Discovery Catapultdiscussing why he travels from
the UK to bio, the value ofinternational collaboration to
solve the world's healthchallenges and the BioBridge
initiative.
A special shout out to our biopartners and sponsors for
(23:56):
working together with us to makethe eye-catching Australian
Pavilion such a success and allthe special events possible.
A huge thank you for thesupport and partnership from the
state governments of New SouthWales, victoria, queensland,
western Australia and SouthAustralia, the Department of
Industry, science and Resources,austrade, csiro and Ausbiotech.
(24:19):
We also had fantastic industrysupport from Moderna Novartis
Australia in New Zealand, cytiva, sanofi, arotex Pharmaceuticals
and Neutromix and support forour Australian delegation from
CSL and Global Pharma Solutions.
You can join our nextinternational trade mission to
(24:40):
the MedTech Conference in SanDiego in October.
Register now to take part andcheck out our Going Global
website page for more details.
You've been listening to the MTPConnect podcast.
This podcast is produced on thelands of the Wurundjeri people
here in Narm, melbourne.
Thanks for listening to theshow.
If you love what you heard,share our podcast and follow us
(25:04):
for more Until next time.
Thanks for listening to theshow.
If you love what you heard,share our podcast and follow us
for more Until next time.
This is the MTP Connect podcast, connecting you
with the people behind thelife-saving innovations driving
Australia's growing lifesciences sector from bench to
bedside for better health andwell-being.
Mtp Connect acknowledges thetraditional owners of country
that this podcast is recorded onand recognises that Aboriginal
(00:23):
and Torres Strait Islanderpeoples are Australia's first
storytellers and the holders offirst science knowledge.
Caroline Duell (00:32):
Hello and welcome to the MTP Connect
podcast.
I'm Caroline Duell.
As the world's largest biotechpartnering event took place in
Boston in June, MTP Connect wasthere introducing an Australian
delegation to the Bostonecosystem, hosting business
events to drive internationalcollaborations and leading the
Australian Pavilion to highlightAustralia's fast-growing life
(00:56):
sciences sector to theinternational biotech industry.
Our CEO, Stuart Dignam, wasthere on the ground, discovering
why people make the effort todo business at Bio and what the
buzz is all about.
Stuart spoke to a couple ofAustralian start-ups that have
established a foothold in the USand are already exporting,
looking to expand and navigatethe new tariff regime.
(01:18):
First up, let's hear from BrentOwens, co-founder of
Ballarat-based Vitrify LifeSciences, a company pioneering
cryopreservation technology.
Brent Owens (01:32):
My name is Brent Owens.
I am one of the co-founders anddeputy CEO of Vitrify Life
Sciences, a cryopreservationtechnology company founded in
Ballarat, regional Victoria, andnow headquartered in Melbourne,
Victoria.
Stuart Dignam (01:44):
Can you just tell us a bit about?
Brent Owens (01:46):
your actual product .
What is it?
Yeah, so fundamentally, in itssimplest form, we have a
cryopreservation freezing device.
So the critical phase whichcauses a lot of the cellular
death, is the process offreezing.
So it's not once it's stored,it's the process of freezing and
how you change that temperaturefrom a liquid to a solid.
(02:07):
We have a system that cancontrol that, use a series of
inputs to be able to reconfigurethat and tailor it in a very
novel way to mitigate a lot ofthose problems that occur with
legacy systems.
So we have a freezing deviceand we have a software platform
that goes with that to enablethat intelligence to be executed
in the device itself.
Stuart Dignam (02:28):
And when it comes time to use that frozen product
, how do you unfreeze it, and isthat tricky as well.
Brent Owens (02:37):
It is Well if you think about at home.
If you thaw out a frozenchicken, it often leaves all the
liquid at the bottom.
That's essentially the cellsexploding and dying.
It's the same in biologicalmaterials that are used for
human health.
Thawing or defrosting isessentially as important as the
(02:58):
freezing process.
So we have our own thawingtechnology as well to do the
back end of it, so that the celldamage doesn't occur when it's
thawed out as well.
It's equally as important asfreezing.
Stuart Dignam (03:10):
So if I was to go around the US and wherever else
in the world, where would I seeyour product being used?
Brent Owens (03:19):
I would say primarily next to every
collection bed that there iswhere blood is collected, where
raw material for cell and genetherapy production is collected.
Yeah, that's the primary place.
Secondly would be where they aCDMO, where they manufacture
those products into drugs andused in research and the likes
as well.
Stuart Dignam (03:39):
And being a Melbourne company and with a big
operation in Ballarat, how doyou manage that when you're
supplying global markets?
Brent Owens (03:50):
I guess there's the novelty of what we do is
providing quality outcomes, andthat's not just selling someone
a piece of equipment and thensaying see you later.
We want to stay close tocustomer continuous improvement
and always innovating, andthat's a key part of we want to.
We started by innovating and wewant to continue to innovate.
(04:10):
The site in Ballarat isessentially the innovation and
optimization center, so when westarted and through the first
founding years, it waseverything because that was our
only site.
As it's evolved, we've stillgot a lot of our know-how, ip
capability and productdevelopment skill sets based in
Ballarat, and they'll continueto operate that site as an
(04:31):
innovation and optimisation hub.
How many staff have you got?
We're pushing into 30 now, soit is growing.
We think that we're probablygoing to be closer to 40 by the
end of the year.
That's more in North America,though, as we build out.
So yeah, we're growing.
Stuart Dignam (04:47):
And obviously and it's been the talk of this
conference there are a fewtariff issues going on, a few,
you know, trade-type issues,regulatory issues with the FDA
and staffing and so forth.
What are your?
Brent Owens (05:02):
You must be keeping an eye on that for the good of
your business Absolutely, and Ithink you have to focus on what
you can control.
The rest you just have to adapt.
That's the way it is.
So one way that we've looked atde-risking is ensuring that we
have US-based manufacturing.
That's a core part of it.
We've got significantcollaborators in the US
(05:26):
government that would require USmanufacturing anyway.
So there's multiple data pointsthat sort of mean that we
should have a US manufacturingcapability, of which we do.
Stuart Dignam (05:37):
So I talk to a lot of start-ups and SMEs and
they're all, by and large,either have some sort of a
presence in the US or arelooking for a presence in the US
, or are looking for a presencein the US.
Are there particular states orcities that make it easier for
you to make a decision aboutwhere you're going to be based?
Any observations on that?
Brent Owens (05:57):
Yeah, there's a few different things to consider.
I think that you know, abovethe and beyond the standard
things like tax and capabilityand skills and those types of
things we have to consider timezone differences, logistics,
because we do fly people out,and I guess there's only a few
areas that you would really wantto focus on with that and
(06:21):
manufacturing and logisticsbeing on the west coast.
But naturally, biotech is onthe east coast, where we are
right now.
So maybe somewhere in between,like austin, texas or somewhere
like that, there's a lot ofmilitary personnel down in texas
as well, so that makes sense tous.
But that's the benefit of bioeveryone's pitching for us to be
(06:41):
at their location, so I guessthat gives us a choice and have
you found boston Just gettingaround this ecosystem?
Stuart Dignam (06:48):
you know they say Kendall Square is the most
innovative square mile on theplanet and there's lots of money
around here.
And how have you found it.
Brent Owens (06:57):
I do love Boston.
I find that it actually isquite similar to Melbourne when
it's summer, not so much whenit's winter, but I like it's
clean, good people, smart people.
It's progressive, open toinnovation, welcome innovation,
because it's an innovative city.
I would say that it's thebiotech hub of the world really
(07:19):
and it's worthwhile having somepresence here because networking
and the networks here is sortof a could be a make or break
type thing.
That's how.
That's how important boston is.
Stuart Dignam (07:30):
I got one more question in all of your dealings
with all of your clients overhere, does the team australia
brand?
Does that resonate in yourdiscussions?
Brent Owens (07:39):
it does and I actually expanding on I would
say it's.
I try and echo that myself.
I do believe that Australia asa nation has the capability to
be world leading in some areas,particularly research, supplying
, APAC, expanding the US.
But I don't think it's anindividual company style.
I think it is a nationalstrategy and people do resonate
(08:03):
with that because they oftendon't know a lot about Australia
, they see it as one place.
They don't really go asgranular as state by state and
the nuances within it.
I think you lose people whenyou go to that level.
So speaking as one nation, Ithink is a really powerful
message that we should continueto talk like that.
Stuart Dignam (08:25):
Great to learn more about your company and what
you're doing, and best of luck.
Brent Owens (08:29):
Excellent, thank you.
Stuart Dignam (08:30):
Appreciate it.
Brent Barnes (08:33):
Brent Barnes, clever Culture Systems, proudly
headquartered in Adelaide, southAustralia, so we automate
culture plate reading.
So when we think aboutmanufacturing of biological
drugs, those manufacturingprocesses are done in a clean
room, and so our technologyautomates a really critical part
of that manufacturing workflow.
Ultimately, that ties intoreleasing safe and effective
drugs to patients all around theworld.
(08:55):
And so you know, when we talkabout manufacturing we get high
interest around this criticalprocess, and so that's what we
do.
Stuart Dignam (09:03):
And I should you know, in the interest of full
disclosure, mtp Connectedprovides some funding early on
for the development of yourcompany.
So how's business, brent?
Brent Barnes (09:13):
Look really good.
The US is a big market.
For us it's an important market.
It's the first time we've cometo bio and you know I can't get
over the scale of thisconference.
You think all the largestpharmaceutical companies in the
world are here with their keydecision makers, ceos,
presidents.
What have you from big pharmaall the way through to kind of
startups.
It's a lot of energy here.
Stuart Dignam (09:34):
And how do you approach kind of navigating that
madness?
Brent Barnes (09:37):
Yeah, a lot of preparation kind of goes into
these conferences ahead of time.
So the partnering session isobviously good ahead of time.
So the partnering session isobviously good.
But then there's a lot ofresources that you know through
MTP Connect actually, andthrough, you know, austrade,
have been able to help kind ofget these meetings set up ahead
of time.
But really a lot of preparation.
The days that we're here iskind of the outcome of really
what has been weeks ofpreparation ahead of this.
Stuart Dignam (09:57):
And the quality of the meetings that you've got
and the engagements that you'vehad.
Is it helping grow yourbusiness?
Brent Barnes (10:05):
For us it's varied , to be honest.
I think for our company we hadsome really important meetings
set up that were critical forkind of our strategy going
forward.
And then there's a bunch ofmeetings that you kind of fill
in around that.
So you know, it's always hardto tell.
I wouldn't say there's 100%kind of hit rate here, but you
know, I think the key meetingswere important.
That's there's a hundredpercent kind of hit rate here,
(10:26):
but you know, I think the keymeetings were important.
That's why we were here.
And then there's, you know,been a portfolio of meetings
that have kind of differentlevels of interest and tell us
about your interest in the USmarket in particular.
Yeah, I mean the US is thelargest single market for us.
All of the big pharmaheadquarters that we're dealing
with are typically kind of havesome presence here, and so you
know I'm probably here three orfour times a year.
(10:47):
We have got a local resourcehere in the US looking to kind
of expand and as a platform, asa platform to grow.
Stuart Dignam (10:54):
And I know you do have some really good contracts
with certain companies thateither will be named or not.
How has that helped in thegrowth of your company?
Brent Barnes (11:04):
It's a tremendous help.
So AstraZeneca are ourbeachhead customer, you know,
and it's really great to be ableto say we launched this product
a year ago.
They've now bought nine of ourinstruments.
They've rolled it out to theirlargest manufacturing site.
So we're talking multiplecountries all around the world
and multiple instruments, andwhen you've got a name like that
, it certainly gets people'sattention.
(11:26):
And also, bristol-myers Square.
We've got a couple of siteshere now that are using it here
in the US.
So that's a very relevantdiscussion as well.
Stuart Dignam (11:32):
You can't avoid the tariff talk and the whole
kind of shifting of the tectonicplates of this sector in the US
.
How have you approached that?
Everybody's talking about ithere.
Brent Barnes (11:46):
Yeah, so we've had a couple of shipments that have
had the tariffs kind of placedon it.
It hasn't been an issue for us.
I kind of taking a step back.
If you Google like pharmamanufacturing in the US, you'll
see billions of dollars ofinvestment.
So actually what it's createdis an avalanche of investment
coming here into the US, whereyou've got pharmaceutical
companies expanding existingfacilities, building new
(12:07):
greenfield sites but looking tooptimise their workflow along
the way.
So it's actually quitebrilliant for us.
We see this as a realopportunity in years to come.
Stuart Dignam (12:15):
To come here.
Brent Barnes (12:16):
Absolutely yeah.
Stuart Dignam (12:17):
That's terrific, and I must ask you about the
pavilion, the Team Australiapresence.
Does that assist you with thework that you're doing here at
Bayer?
Brent Barnes (12:27):
It's always great to have a home base, and for
Team Australia, what has beenreally intriguing is having
meetings of my own and peopletalk about Team Australia or
Australian companies, and youknow just how excited they were
about it.
So you know we have a bigpresence here and that has its
own energy associated with it,and it's also amazing you find
(12:47):
yourself collaborating with theAustralians that you don't get
that opportunity to when you'reat home, and so it's another
great way of actually kind ofdoing that local business
development.
Stuart Dignam (12:56):
You know, here in Boston yeah, it is like team is
the operative word.
It becomes a bit of a team, abit of a community and we all
help each other navigate thiscrazy conference.
Brent Barnes (13:05):
Yeah, we absolutely do, it's.
Great.
Stuart Dignam (13:08):
Brent, thank you and thanks for joining the
podcast and continued good luckwith your business.
Brent Barnes (13:13):
You too.
Thanks, Stuart.
Chris Molloy (13:16):
Hi, I'm Chris Malloy, Chief Executive of the
Medicines Discovery Catapult inthe UK.
Stuart Dignam (13:20):
Now, Chris.
Why are you at Bio in Boston?
Chris Molloy (13:24):
This is where the industry comes to spawn and it's
the place where you have a hugeconcentration effect, so you
can understand what the marketis feeling, what it's wanting,
where its demand signals are,the zeitgeist, the, the investor
confidence, and that helps youplot a course to the future.
Stuart Dignam (13:42):
We're here at a most interesting time.
What intelligence have youpicked up about where we are at
as a sector and maybe about theway we are engaging with each
other globally?
Chris Molloy (13:55):
The world has changed.
The competitive forces thatwere alive for the last 20 years
have been fundamentally changed.
Where the world is looking nowfor a source of its new
molecules is changing, and thevalue of those licensing
agreements is changing.
So some of the big structuralelements that have held this
(14:19):
market together for a generationare now uncertain, and for that
reason it's all the moreimportant that those of a like
mind and shared cultures andvalues build bridges to help
them do their R&D moreeffectively and ultimately, to
get medicines to patients faster.
Stuart Dignam (14:41):
You wouldn't mean a bio bridge, would you?
Chris Molloy (14:43):
Bio bridge is exactly what I mean.
So what we must do, and what weshould do in a Commonwealth for
Common Health, is make surethat our biotechs and our
services companies have theminimum friction to work with
each other and to help eachother get those medicines to
patients more quickly.
And I think that the work ofgovernments, the work of
(15:03):
regulators and the work ofagents of change is aligned
around that now, and all themore so with the geopolitical
situation that we face.
Stuart Dignam (15:13):
Yeah, it's not a question of things are shifting.
They have shifted and now isthe time to kind of reimagine
how we do business, really.
Chris Molloy (15:24):
Yeah there's no reverse gear on this, so we've
all got to look forward to howwe're going to be developing new
, more complex, more precise,more targeted medicines for a
global market in a changed world, and I think it's fair to say
that no one has the absoluteanswer to this.
But what we do need to do ismake sure that we, outside bio
(15:49):
and this convention, have aconcentration based effect
that's going to deliver realvalue, and I think the BioBridge
program helps to do that.
Stuart Dignam (15:57):
Let's talk about that a little bit.
I mean, we've been talkingabout it for a while.
What is the opportunity fromcreating a BioBridge?
I know Australia and the UK.
You know we've got heritage, weknow each other, we like each
other, we're used to dealingwith each other.
Kind of makes sense.
But what tangible benefitscould come from us establishing
(16:19):
a well-nurtured, well-supportedbio bridge?
Chris Molloy (16:23):
It's about getting medicines to patients faster.
If we're not doing that, thenwe've lost our North Star, we've
lost our purpose.
So the tangible benefits, I hope, of a bio bridge, which
leverage the access consortiumof our regulators, is to make
sure we can domulti-jurisdictional R&D from
the get-go, increasing assetvalues for everybody, increasing
(16:45):
access to services, increasingaccess to co-investment.
And these really tangibleactivities make money move and
they make medicines move, andthat is what every bridge that's
ever been built does.
And governments build bridges,companies and people then use
them.
And it's the role, I think, ofthose of us all who are agents
(17:08):
in this to create those highwayswith minimum friction that
allow companies to move mosteffectively.
And we're not playing sort oftug of war between our nations
with biotech companies.
We're enabling them to go toand fro across the bridge in a
two-way traffic that gets theirR&D done in a most efficient way
(17:31):
, in the fastest way andprovides more visibility to
investors.
And only if we do that will wereally maximize the value of the
access consortium of ourregulators, the free trade
agreements that we have betweenour governments and the agents
of change on in both ends of thebridge who want to make this
happen yeah, it's.
Stuart Dignam (17:51):
uh, it's kind of like if you've ever had a bold
idea, now is the time to back itin.
Never been a better time to doit and that focus on a patient
and better health, betterwell-being, living longer,
better that's kind of what'smotivating all of us.
Chris Molloy (18:11):
Yeah, it is what gets most people who are here
today out of bed every singleday.
And we've got to not justbelieve it and talk single day.
And we we've got to not justbelieve it and talk about it,
but we've got to act upon it.
And that's really my purposehere at bio to build those
relationships to allow us tobuild the blueprints for those
bridges and make them realizableso that everyone goes.
(18:33):
Yeah, you know, I use thebridge, didn't we always?
And there are so manyactivities that go on that each
country, each of our nationsdoes to aid biotech, to try and
make multi-jurisdictional work,and what the BioBridge program
is doing is trying to pull allof those into one place and one
space.
Stuart Dignam (18:51):
You worked with us on our diagnostics action
plan, and a key element of thatwas kind of a one-stop shop to
just cut through everything sopeople could know what to do,
when to do it, how to do it.
That's kind of a version ofthis, isn't it?
Chris Molloy (19:07):
Absolutely it is.
You need a safe landing space.
Companies who come to a newjurisdiction to do part of their
multi-jurisdictional R&D thereneed to know who's who.
They need a concierge service.
They need folks who understandtheir own landscape and are
willing to help others bed intoit, and so there's a service
(19:30):
element to this, no doubt.
And if we can be at the servicenot just of our own services
companies and our own biotechs,but those Commonwealth for
Common Health partners that wehave, then really everybody wins
.
And in all of these thingsthere are stuff that is at risk
and stuff that we can gain, andeveryone just needs to, I think,
(19:53):
hold hands around this in very,very uncertain times and, as
you said, now is the time forbold ideas and just getting it
done 100% and really pleased tobe chatting with you here at Bio
.
Stuart Dignam (20:08):
What about your day job?
How's things going back in theUK with the catapult?
Chris Molloy (20:13):
So the Medicines Discovery catapult continues to
deliver for its community, andits community is national as
well as international.
We do three things.
We de-risk new technologiesthat will drive productivity in
R&D and we make sure that theyare adopted through our services
business.
Secondly, we work with youngcompanies and make them fit to
(20:34):
fund by giving them robustindustry class R&D plans, access
to technology and, in somecases, access to capital.
And then we run ambitiousnational and international R&D
collaborative programmes inareas that industry finds a high
risk in dementia, in psychiatry, in AMR, in cystic fibrosis and
(20:54):
develop unique virtualinstitutes in areas like complex
medicines delivery.
These things, we hope, addvalue to the community.
They certainly allow companiesto access money and we've worked
with many hundreds of companiesacross the UK and helped them
leverage about £1.3 billionworth of private investment.
And that making money move,making medicines move is our
(21:19):
motivation.
Stuart Dignam (21:20):
It's the notion that if we can accelerate a
company to be successfulcommercially, that means they've
brought their drug to themarket for the benefit of a
patient.
So it's a commercial success,but also a win for a patient.
Chris Molloy (21:37):
It absolutely is as the end game.
But we've all got to recognisethat if we're talking about
early stage biotech, that can beat some distance from clinical
delivery and marketability.
However, value for a biotechcan be measured in other ways
too the licensing deals, thefundraisings that progress
(21:58):
towards that marketability andpatient access.
Marketability and patientaccess.
So we've got to look at thatand say, can we make sure that
every single one of our biotechswhose science meets a demand
signal is made fit to fund?
Because there's only one reasonin any of our nations that
biotechs should fail and that isif the science doesn't meet the
(22:21):
demand signal that a patienthas.
There is no other good excusethat I have seen for why a
biotech should fail.
They were in the wrong place,they didn't know what they
didn't know, they didn't haveaccess.
These, I find, are unacceptableexcuses for the failure of
companies whose science couldsave lives.
Stuart Dignam (22:38):
So, as you're walking around this conference
and taking the meetings thatyou're taking, walking around
this conference and taking themeetings that you're taking, are
you finding there's a kind of aconsensus around everybody's
trying to build bridges to newplaces, taking advantage of new
opportunities because of thechanges that are occurring?
Chris Molloy (22:54):
I think, yes, some of that's a reaction, some of
it is more forward thinking, amore deliberative, and I think
the the deliberative discussionsthat we have been having with
with Commonwealth partners overthe last year or so under the
free trade agreement that thatwe have, particularly between
the UK and Australia, enablesthose discussions to move from
(23:19):
theory to delivery, and that'swhat I want to see in the next
12 months before we're in bio inSan Diego.
Stuart Dignam (23:26):
And maybe we can be making some announcements in
San Diego this time next year.
Chris, thank you so much forchatting to the podcast.
Chris Molloy (23:33):
Great pleasure.
Thanks very much.
Great to see you.
Caroline Duell (23:36):
That was Professor Chris Molloy from the
Medicines Discovery Catapultdiscussing why he travels from
the UK to bio, the value ofinternational collaboration to
solve the world's healthchallenges and the BioBridge
initiative.
A special shout out to our biopartners and sponsors for
(23:56):
working together with us to makethe eye-catching Australian
Pavilion such a success and allthe special events possible.
A huge thank you for thesupport and partnership from the
state governments of New SouthWales, victoria, queensland,
western Australia and SouthAustralia, the Department of
Industry, science and Resources,austrade, csiro and Ausbiotech.
(24:19):
We also had fantastic industrysupport from Moderna Novartis
Australia in New Zealand, cytiva, sanofi, arotex Pharmaceuticals
and Neutromix and support forour Australian delegation from
CSL and Global Pharma Solutions.
You can join our nextinternational trade mission to
(24:40):
the MedTech Conference in SanDiego in October.
Register now to take part andcheck out our Going Global
website page for more details.
You've been listening to the MTPConnect podcast.
This podcast is produced on thelands of the Wurundjeri people
here in Narm, melbourne.
Thanks for listening to theshow.
If you love what you heard,share our podcast and follow us
(25:04):
for more Until next time.
Thanks for listening to theshow.
If you love what you heard,share our podcast and follow us
for more Until next time.
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