May 28, 2025 • 21 mins
In a special series dedicated to the Australian Clinical Entrepreneur Program (AUSCEP) we introduce you to some of the passionate health professionals taking part in this 12-month program to develop their innovative ideas into products and enterprises.
Dr Yagiz Aksoy is a Resident Doctor at Royal North Shore Hospital in Sydney and co-founder and Director of EosGene Therapeutics, a startup developing a pioneering light-activated gene therapy for diabetic retinopathy and macular degeneration using proprietary drug delivery technology – removing the need for painful eye injections.
Yagiz explains how taking part in AUSCEP helped him shift from being a clinician researcher to becoming a translational founder, giving him the language and tools to navigate startup strategy. And it gifted him a community of clinicians trying to solve real problems in different ways.
The program’s third cohort has been delivered in NSW and Victoria, in partnership with MTPConnect and Australian Society for Medical Entrepreneurship and Innovation (ASME) and supported by LaunchVic and NSW Agency for Clinical Innovation (ACI). The next 2025/26 cohort is open for Victorian applications until 20 June 2025 – apply at auscep.au.
This episode is hosted by MTPConnect’s Caroline Duell and Elizabeth Stares.
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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 (00:33):
Hello and welcome to the MTP Connect
podcast.
I'm Caroline Jewell.
Do you have a dream totranslate your healthcare ideas
into real world solutions?
Join us as we meet some of thepassionate health professionals
doing just that and taking partin the Australian Clinical
healthcare ideas into real-worldsolutions.
Join us as we meet some of thepassionate health professionals
doing just that and taking partin the Australian Clinical
Entrepreneur Program.
This 12-month innovationprogram is led by MTP Connect
(00:55):
and the Australian Society forMedical Entrepreneurship and
Innovation, with support fromLaunchvic and New South Wales
Health, and it's making adifference from bench to bedside
.
My co-host is MTP Connect'sElizabeth Stairs, who is the
Innovation and Translation Leadfor the OSCEP program.
Dr Yagiz Aksoy (01:16):
My name is Yagiz Alpakso.
I'm a medical doctor currentlyworking as a resident at Royal
North Shore Hospital.
I'm also a researcher at theUniversity of New South Wales
and, in this context, I am thefounder of EOS Gene Therapeutics
, a biotech company developinglight-activated non-viral gene
(01:37):
therapies.
Caroline Duell (01:38):
This sounds like a really interesting area of
medicine.
Can you tell us about thisinnovation that you're
developing?
Dr Yagiz Aksoy (01:48):
So EOSGEN is a biotech company, and then what
we want to achieve is we want toturn these very complex,
invasive treatments, which oftenrequire either long or
expensive processes requireeither long or expensive
processes into more precise andone-time interventions, and then
(02:10):
we use light literally tounlock gene therapy and then,
essentially, we want to be ableto provide these cures like
long-term cures by providingthese like precise treatments
that are actually affordable.
Caroline Duell (02:26):
So can you describe this nano syringe
technology that you've developed?
Dr Yagiz Aksoy (02:34):
It dates back to my PhD, which kind of like
bridges clinical medicine andmolecular biology.
At the time I was working ongenome editing tools like CRISPR
and TALENs.
Crispr is very popular now.
Talens are a bit like hasbecome a bit of like an older
technology, but still prettygood.
(02:54):
But the idea for EOSG didn'tactually come from the lab, it
came from the clinic.
I remember watching patientsduring my ophthalmology
rotations coming in for yetanother injection into the eye
for macular degeneration.
It's routine in ophthalmology.
(03:14):
But confronting gettinginjections into your eye and I
can tell from the patients werenot really impressed, even
though that's their 20th time,and I remember thinking surely
there is a better way.
So, linking it back to my PhDand I said what if we could use
(03:38):
light literally to control whenand where gene therapy happens?
So that led us to develop ananoparticle-based system that
could carry these therapeuticsand other drugs that can be
delivered by standard methodslike IV injections and only
(04:02):
release or activate them whenand where we want them, and we
do that by using a light.
So that technology we starteddeveloping a decade ago and then
we improved it over the lastlike seven or eight years and
validated it in cells and someanimal models.
(04:22):
It worked, and here we are theEOS gene was born.
Caroline Duell (04:28):
Wow, that's really exciting.
Could you just explain toeveryone listening what exactly
is gene therapy?
If you think about, you'redesigning a platform to help
take the gene therapy to thesite of the problem that you're
trying to treat.
Dr Yagiz Aksoy (04:43):
Gene therapy is about fixing the source code of
the body.
So if your DNA is theinstruction manual, gene therapy
edits the faulty lines of codethat are causing the disease.
So it addresses the root causeand here's often how I explain
it to some of my patients andhere's often how I explain it to
(05:07):
some of my patients.
So imagine your house has afaulty light that keeps
flickering.
You could keep changing thebulb every week and you can just
go and purchase a new lightbulb.
You can spend a bit more, youcan buy these smart light bulbs
if you fancy one, but it doesn'tsolve the problem.
It will still eventually startflickering because the problem
(05:31):
is not the light bulb, it is inthe circuits.
So going to the circuit box andfixing the wiring that causes
that flickering is the genetherapy.
It doesn't just treat thesymptoms, it treats the root
cause of a disease that causedthe symptoms.
It is a circuit box.
So in our analogy or case, weare using CRISPR to turn down
(05:59):
the VEGF gene which drives thoseabnormal blood vessel growth in
the eye which causes, it'sessential, the blindness and
that comes with the maculardegeneration or diabetic
retinopathy.
So in a way we are doing itwith a smart switch using light
to activate the treatment in theeye to, just like, permanently
(06:23):
address the symptoms.
Caroline Duell (06:25):
So right now you're calling in from the Royal
North Shore Hospital.
You're in your scrubs.
Natalie Vella (06:29):
I am.
Caroline Duell (06:30):
So, you are a practising doctor.
You're still training, goingthrough your extensive training
program for medicine and, at thesame time, working on this
incredible research.
How do you marry those twotogether?
Dr Yagiz Aksoy (06:46):
It's challenging but also actually
quite complimentary.
So I come from a researchbackground, as I said, sort of a
PhD, and then stayed in theresearch and academia and then
moved to medicine later on.
It is always challenging to fitthe research and
commercialisation activitiesinto the clinical time but on
(07:07):
the other hand, because I amstill working in the hospital,
it is my day-to-day job toactually interact with the
patients, deliver treatments.
I always say I am on the frontline, I'm working on the
trenches and I actually see howwe do things, how we bring these
(07:27):
medicine or procedures to thepatients medicine or procedures
to the patients because it ispart of my day-to-day job.
It actually better informs meas to what patients do really
want from us.
What do they actually careabout?
What are the bottlenecks?
Where does the medicines fallshort sometimes, or where like
(07:48):
to find some rooms forimprovement that will actually
make change, not not just to thepatient alone but also to the
system.
So it is actually quiteprivileged to be still
practicing medicine, because itjust like gives me that
perspective.
Caroline Duell (08:04):
And obviously you know particularly these
vision loss diseases are, youknow, incredibly difficult for
patients to deal with,especially as disease progresses
, and I understand that thislet's call it drug delivery
platform that you are developing, you're very much focusing it
on targeting vision lossdiseases.
Dr Yagiz Aksoy (08:26):
That's correct.
Our first indication isage-related macular degeneration
.
Is age-related maculardegeneration as well as diabetic
retinopathy, as you indicated?
Well, you're quite spot on.
Actually, there are quite a lotof people who suffer from these
diseases, particularly becausepeople live longer and with age
(08:48):
comes a lot of diseases,including these ones.
So macular degeneration anddiabetic retinopathy are two of
the top causes of blindnessglobally and together they
affect about 350 million peopleworldwide and including over 1.5
million Australians.
(09:09):
It's a pretty serious disease,especially if it does not get
treated early on.
But on the other side, thecurrent gold standard treatment
involves injections directlyinto the eye.
That could be every four toeight weeks for years, so it's
(09:33):
painful.
Those drugs are very expensive.
In fact, they top the PBSdispense medications in
Australia they're in the topfive most expensive drugs and
also for many patients it'soverwhelming.
Expensive drugs and also formany patients it's overwhelming.
(09:55):
Imagine you have to get theseophthalmology appointments every
month or every two, threemonths, knowing you're gonna.
You have to drive to the clinic, knowing you have to get
injected into your eye.
It's important, otherwise youmay go blind.
But that's hundreds ofinjections over a lifetime.
So we want to change thatentirely.
Caroline Duell (10:14):
You're going to change it to one injection, not
in your eye.
Dr Yagiz Aksoy (10:18):
Correct.
Caroline Duell (10:19):
What stage is your innovation at on this
development pathway?
Dr Yagiz Aksoy (10:24):
So we are in the advanced preclinical stage.
We have built the platform.
It works in the lab very welland now we are focused on
generating the functional datathat gets us closer to the
clinic.
And we have secured quite a bitof non-dilutive funding from
different government resourcesand more recently we'll talk
(10:45):
about that later but we wereselected as an official partner
for the $238 million Smart CRSD,australia's flagship
regenerative medicine initiative.
So we are at the level where weare taking our research from
the lab to the clinical stageand then we are hoping to
(11:08):
achieve first-in-human trials inthe next one and a half to two
years.
Caroline Duell (11:14):
That sounds like a really bold innovation and
obviously it's attracted a lotof attention to be part of this
new smart CRC.
It's fantastic, congratulations.
Dr Yagiz Aksoy (11:24):
Thank you.
Caroline Duell (11:25):
You talked before about your co-founders
and also that you have beenworking on this research for
what sounds like a significantamount of time.
How long has this journey beenfor you and who else is involved
?
Dr Yagiz Aksoy (11:39):
So I have two other co-founders.
I have been working withProfessor Iwa Galdas, who was my
PhD course supervisor manyyears ago, as well as Associate
Professor Wei Deng.
She's our nanotechnology expertand we've been working on this
(12:07):
project for I think it will be10 years at the end of 2025.
It started as a small extensionof my PhD project, but also
after that we took it to thenext level because what we found
in the lab was really good andpromising and then when I
combined that idea with what Isaw in the clinic and potential
(12:27):
pathway, it just like became thenext stage for us.
So yeah, it's been going on forabout a decade now, and the
good thing about that is because, as co-founders with EY and Way
, we know each other so well,because we're working together
for 10 years.
We have a very strong team.
We know our strengths, we knowour weaknesses, we know what
(12:49):
brings us together.
We have a fantastic workingrelationship.
Ey and Way are the researchersat UNSW and UTS.
Caroline Duell (12:59):
Wow, what a team .
Have you commercialised thisresearch out of the university
system so that you've spun out,or you're a spin-off?
Dr Yagiz Aksoy (13:08):
Yes, we have spun out of University of New
South Wales and we did thatabout two years ago because we
decided, once we accumulatedsufficient preclinical data,
that proving the technologyactually works in the lab very
well, we filed patents and wewent through the full
prosecution phase.
(13:29):
I mean, we had filed patentslet me correct that about six
years ago when we first starteddeveloping the technology,
starting our preclinicals.
But following that initialprovisional filing, we actually
took the provisional patents allthe way to the full prosecution
and defence and I'm glad to say, our patents were approved in
(13:53):
US, Australia, EU states, UK andthen during this time we
actually fully spun out andbecome a company.
Caroline Duell (14:05):
Elizabeth, flicking over to you now to sort
of talk a little bit about theAusSet program.
Elizabeth Stares (14:10):
Yeah, thanks, caroline.
As you know, we run the theAusSet program and you're part
of our New South Wales cohort,so cohort three.
What has attending the OSCEPprogram brought to you?
What have you learned?
Dr Yagiz Aksoy (14:25):
So many things Absolutely love being part of
OSCEP.
So OSCEP helped me shift frombeing a clinician researcher to
becoming a translational founderand, as much as it's easier
said than done, it actually hasso much further, deeper meaning
(14:46):
to it.
The program kind of gives methe language and tools to
navigate startup strategy,regulation and product
development.
But more importantly and that'sprobably one of the things that
(15:08):
I love the most about OSEP itgave me a community of
clinicians trying to solve realproblems in a different way.
It helped me to start thinkinglike someone building something
that has to work in the realworld but still thinking outside
the box and how to make thathappen.
Elizabeth Stares (15:35):
Thank you.
I think one of my favoritememories was in one of the pit
stops when the whole table werearound and they were so ent.
Are you able to look at thiskind of cancer and can you look
at this illness or this disease?
And they came up with lots andlots of alternative uses for
your gene therapy.
Dr Yagiz Aksoy (15:49):
It was one of those moments that also I
remember immensely and Iactually took notes from that
and I took those notes back tomy founders and our business
advisors saying, hey, I've beenpart of this OSIP and guess what
, today we had a greatdiscussion and the good thing
about that is we're allclinicians in that cohort.
So the ideas are coming from thepeople, when they understand
(16:13):
what I'm doing, how actually itcould be implemented, not just
in the way that we think, butalso to add to our pipeline.
All these, all these thoughtswere very valuable and the best
thing is, like normally we wouldbe spending our own time out
there trying to survey theseclinicians, trying to get the
(16:33):
right audience to understand ourtechnology and give a bit of
feedback.
Osep is the platform where wejust like show up and then
they're all there.
They're like our fellowparticipants, but they're
actually their clinicians andit's very valuable to get their
feedback.
And it's such a friendlyenvironment too, so we don't
(16:54):
actually get stressed about notsaying the right thing at the
right time.
Elizabeth Stares (17:03):
Yeah, so it's been a great experience so far.
Yeah, everyone's there to learnand I think that's and that's
shown definitely in the, theatmosphere, in the environment
that the pit stops and the, thecommunication between you all
has shown.
So what's next for you?
So you mentioned that you haveyour smart crc and I know you
got um, a aea grant as well.
(17:24):
Um, yeah, and this is going totake you to clinical trial.
Is that right?
Dr Yagiz Aksoy (17:29):
um.
It's definitely give us a verygood runway to further our
technology to prepare for thefirst in human trials.
So the aea um grant that wereceived just like gives us the
fuel to generate the keypreclinical data for us to move
forward, particularly in ourfirst targets in ophthalmology,
(17:52):
and the Smart CISO partnershipsgives us something even more
powerful a seat at the nationaltable.
At the national table we areone of the 63 partner
organisations and some of theindustry giants like CSL, merck,
cytiva, and to the best of myknowledge, we are the only
(18:12):
start-up on that list.
It validates what we arebuilding and positions us within
Australia's regenerativemedicine future, not just as a
participant but as a contributor, I would say.
And then the next stages for usis to raise further funds to
(18:32):
bring our research into theclinics and running our first in
human trials in the next threeto six months or so.
Caroline Duell (18:42):
And Yigiz, do you have a message for anyone
who might be considering joiningthe Australian Clinical
Entrepreneurs Program, becausewe're opening applications in
May.
Dr Yagiz Aksoy (18:54):
I cannot stress how important it was for me to
be part of the offset.
I'm not just saying it becauseI just attended and I just like
want to say a few words.
It was actually had.
It made a real impact.
So I would say all my fellowclinicians out there who have
been working in the system,either public or private, who
have seen problems and let'sface it, it's there everywhere
(19:19):
they're, like it comes fromevery lines of work either.
If you're a doctor or a nurse ora paramedic, you see something
and you see, and if you everwondered let me put it like that
if you ever, you know, afterthe work went back home just
like told your friend you knowwhat I've seen, xyz.
And wouldn't that be easier ifwe had done this, or if we
(19:41):
developed this, or if we have,you know, created this app, or
if we have did this research,wouldn't that make like
fantastic changes?
If you ever said something likethat, don't think twice.
Osep would be there to equipyou with the language and
(20:01):
strategy to successfully bringyour ideas to real life.
So, and that's all I can say,and I'm very strongly
encouraging all the fellowclinicians out there to consider
OSEP and I don't think you willdisappoint.
It's such a well-structuredprogram.
So I just want to say one moreagain, and obviously to you,
(20:25):
elizabeth it's just like such afascinating program.
In fact I feel a little bitlike sadness that I know it's
about to end and I have to sayshould I apply again just to be
part of the same, maybe anothercohort?
But no, I really stronglyencourage all the listeners.
Caroline Duell (20:44):
Well, hopefully you'll be able to keep in touch
with your cohort and your peers,who sound like a great
inspiration to you and you tothem.
So we wish you all the best,and it's been great to hear
about your entrepreneurialspirit and your passion to bring
this new technology drugdelivery platform for gene
(21:07):
therapy from the bench perhaps,hopefully soon to the bedside.
Dr Yagiz Aksoy (21:12):
I'm sure I strongly believe in that.
Caroline Duell (21:15):
That was Dr Yagiz Aksoy, a medical doctor at
Royal North Shore Hospital inSydney and co-founder of EOS
Gene Therapeutics, talking aboutdeveloping a new technology
platform to deliver gene therapyfor vision loss diseases like
diabetic retinopathy.
To find out how to be part ofthe next Australian Clinical
Entrepreneurs Program, visit theAUSCEP website to find out more
(21:39):
.
A-u-s-c-e-p dot A-U program.
Visit the OSCEP website to findout more.
Auscepau, you've been listeningto the MTP Connect 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
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 (00:33):
Hello and welcome to the MTP Connect
podcast.
I'm Caroline Jewell.
Do you have a dream totranslate your healthcare ideas
into real world solutions?
Join us as we meet some of thepassionate health professionals
doing just that and taking partin the Australian Clinical
healthcare ideas into real-worldsolutions.
Join us as we meet some of thepassionate health professionals
doing just that and taking partin the Australian Clinical
Entrepreneur Program.
This 12-month innovationprogram is led by MTP Connect
(00:55):
and the Australian Society forMedical Entrepreneurship and
Innovation, with support fromLaunchvic and New South Wales
Health, and it's making adifference from bench to bedside
.
My co-host is MTP Connect'sElizabeth Stairs, who is the
Innovation and Translation Leadfor the OSCEP program.
Dr Yagiz Aksoy (01:16):
My name is Yagiz Alpakso.
I'm a medical doctor currentlyworking as a resident at Royal
North Shore Hospital.
I'm also a researcher at theUniversity of New South Wales
and, in this context, I am thefounder of EOS Gene Therapeutics
, a biotech company developinglight-activated non-viral gene
(01:37):
therapies.
Caroline Duell (01:38):
This sounds like a really interesting area of
medicine.
Can you tell us about thisinnovation that you're
developing?
Dr Yagiz Aksoy (01:48):
So EOSGEN is a biotech company, and then what
we want to achieve is we want toturn these very complex,
invasive treatments, which oftenrequire either long or
expensive processes requireeither long or expensive
processes into more precise andone-time interventions, and then
(02:10):
we use light literally tounlock gene therapy and then,
essentially, we want to be ableto provide these cures like
long-term cures by providingthese like precise treatments
that are actually affordable.
Caroline Duell (02:26):
So can you describe this nano syringe
technology that you've developed?
Dr Yagiz Aksoy (02:34):
It dates back to my PhD, which kind of like
bridges clinical medicine andmolecular biology.
At the time I was working ongenome editing tools like CRISPR
and TALENs.
Crispr is very popular now.
Talens are a bit like hasbecome a bit of like an older
technology, but still prettygood.
(02:54):
But the idea for EOSG didn'tactually come from the lab, it
came from the clinic.
I remember watching patientsduring my ophthalmology
rotations coming in for yetanother injection into the eye
for macular degeneration.
It's routine in ophthalmology.
(03:14):
But confronting gettinginjections into your eye and I
can tell from the patients werenot really impressed, even
though that's their 20th time,and I remember thinking surely
there is a better way.
So, linking it back to my PhDand I said what if we could use
(03:38):
light literally to control whenand where gene therapy happens?
So that led us to develop ananoparticle-based system that
could carry these therapeuticsand other drugs that can be
delivered by standard methodslike IV injections and only
(04:02):
release or activate them whenand where we want them, and we
do that by using a light.
So that technology we starteddeveloping a decade ago and then
we improved it over the lastlike seven or eight years and
validated it in cells and someanimal models.
(04:22):
It worked, and here we are theEOS gene was born.
Caroline Duell (04:28):
Wow, that's really exciting.
Could you just explain toeveryone listening what exactly
is gene therapy?
If you think about, you'redesigning a platform to help
take the gene therapy to thesite of the problem that you're
trying to treat.
Dr Yagiz Aksoy (04:43):
Gene therapy is about fixing the source code of
the body.
So if your DNA is theinstruction manual, gene therapy
edits the faulty lines of codethat are causing the disease.
So it addresses the root causeand here's often how I explain
it to some of my patients andhere's often how I explain it to
(05:07):
some of my patients.
So imagine your house has afaulty light that keeps
flickering.
You could keep changing thebulb every week and you can just
go and purchase a new lightbulb.
You can spend a bit more, youcan buy these smart light bulbs
if you fancy one, but it doesn'tsolve the problem.
It will still eventually startflickering because the problem
(05:31):
is not the light bulb, it is inthe circuits.
So going to the circuit box andfixing the wiring that causes
that flickering is the genetherapy.
It doesn't just treat thesymptoms, it treats the root
cause of a disease that causedthe symptoms.
It is a circuit box.
So in our analogy or case, weare using CRISPR to turn down
(05:59):
the VEGF gene which drives thoseabnormal blood vessel growth in
the eye which causes, it'sessential, the blindness and
that comes with the maculardegeneration or diabetic
retinopathy.
So in a way we are doing itwith a smart switch using light
to activate the treatment in theeye to, just like, permanently
(06:23):
address the symptoms.
Caroline Duell (06:25):
So right now you're calling in from the Royal
North Shore Hospital.
You're in your scrubs.
Natalie Vella (06:29):
I am.
Caroline Duell (06:30):
So, you are a practising doctor.
You're still training, goingthrough your extensive training
program for medicine and, at thesame time, working on this
incredible research.
How do you marry those twotogether?
Dr Yagiz Aksoy (06:46):
It's challenging but also actually
quite complimentary.
So I come from a researchbackground, as I said, sort of a
PhD, and then stayed in theresearch and academia and then
moved to medicine later on.
It is always challenging to fitthe research and
commercialisation activitiesinto the clinical time but on
(07:07):
the other hand, because I amstill working in the hospital,
it is my day-to-day job toactually interact with the
patients, deliver treatments.
I always say I am on the frontline, I'm working on the
trenches and I actually see howwe do things, how we bring these
(07:27):
medicine or procedures to thepatients medicine or procedures
to the patients because it ispart of my day-to-day job.
It actually better informs meas to what patients do really
want from us.
What do they actually careabout?
What are the bottlenecks?
Where does the medicines fallshort sometimes, or where like
(07:48):
to find some rooms forimprovement that will actually
make change, not not just to thepatient alone but also to the
system.
So it is actually quiteprivileged to be still
practicing medicine, because itjust like gives me that
perspective.
Caroline Duell (08:04):
And obviously you know particularly these
vision loss diseases are, youknow, incredibly difficult for
patients to deal with,especially as disease progresses
, and I understand that thislet's call it drug delivery
platform that you are developing, you're very much focusing it
on targeting vision lossdiseases.
Dr Yagiz Aksoy (08:26):
That's correct.
Our first indication isage-related macular degeneration
.
Is age-related maculardegeneration as well as diabetic
retinopathy, as you indicated?
Well, you're quite spot on.
Actually, there are quite a lotof people who suffer from these
diseases, particularly becausepeople live longer and with age
(08:48):
comes a lot of diseases,including these ones.
So macular degeneration anddiabetic retinopathy are two of
the top causes of blindnessglobally and together they
affect about 350 million peopleworldwide and including over 1.5
million Australians.
(09:09):
It's a pretty serious disease,especially if it does not get
treated early on.
But on the other side, thecurrent gold standard treatment
involves injections directlyinto the eye.
That could be every four toeight weeks for years, so it's
(09:33):
painful.
Those drugs are very expensive.
In fact, they top the PBSdispense medications in
Australia they're in the topfive most expensive drugs and
also for many patients it'soverwhelming.
Expensive drugs and also formany patients it's overwhelming.
(09:55):
Imagine you have to get theseophthalmology appointments every
month or every two, threemonths, knowing you're gonna.
You have to drive to the clinic, knowing you have to get
injected into your eye.
It's important, otherwise youmay go blind.
But that's hundreds ofinjections over a lifetime.
So we want to change thatentirely.
Caroline Duell (10:14):
You're going to change it to one injection, not
in your eye.
Dr Yagiz Aksoy (10:18):
Correct.
Caroline Duell (10:19):
What stage is your innovation at on this
development pathway?
Dr Yagiz Aksoy (10:24):
So we are in the advanced preclinical stage.
We have built the platform.
It works in the lab very welland now we are focused on
generating the functional datathat gets us closer to the
clinic.
And we have secured quite a bitof non-dilutive funding from
different government resourcesand more recently we'll talk
(10:45):
about that later but we wereselected as an official partner
for the $238 million Smart CRSD,australia's flagship
regenerative medicine initiative.
So we are at the level where weare taking our research from
the lab to the clinical stageand then we are hoping to
(11:08):
achieve first-in-human trials inthe next one and a half to two
years.
Caroline Duell (11:14):
That sounds like a really bold innovation and
obviously it's attracted a lotof attention to be part of this
new smart CRC.
It's fantastic, congratulations.
Dr Yagiz Aksoy (11:24):
Thank you.
Caroline Duell (11:25):
You talked before about your co-founders
and also that you have beenworking on this research for
what sounds like a significantamount of time.
How long has this journey beenfor you and who else is involved
?
Dr Yagiz Aksoy (11:39):
So I have two other co-founders.
I have been working withProfessor Iwa Galdas, who was my
PhD course supervisor manyyears ago, as well as Associate
Professor Wei Deng.
She's our nanotechnology expertand we've been working on this
(12:07):
project for I think it will be10 years at the end of 2025.
It started as a small extensionof my PhD project, but also
after that we took it to thenext level because what we found
in the lab was really good andpromising and then when I
combined that idea with what Isaw in the clinic and potential
(12:27):
pathway, it just like became thenext stage for us.
So yeah, it's been going on forabout a decade now, and the
good thing about that is because, as co-founders with EY and Way
, we know each other so well,because we're working together
for 10 years.
We have a very strong team.
We know our strengths, we knowour weaknesses, we know what
(12:49):
brings us together.
We have a fantastic workingrelationship.
Ey and Way are the researchersat UNSW and UTS.
Caroline Duell (12:59):
Wow, what a team .
Have you commercialised thisresearch out of the university
system so that you've spun out,or you're a spin-off?
Dr Yagiz Aksoy (13:08):
Yes, we have spun out of University of New
South Wales and we did thatabout two years ago because we
decided, once we accumulatedsufficient preclinical data,
that proving the technologyactually works in the lab very
well, we filed patents and wewent through the full
prosecution phase.
(13:29):
I mean, we had filed patentslet me correct that about six
years ago when we first starteddeveloping the technology,
starting our preclinicals.
But following that initialprovisional filing, we actually
took the provisional patents allthe way to the full prosecution
and defence and I'm glad to say, our patents were approved in
(13:53):
US, Australia, EU states, UK andthen during this time we
actually fully spun out andbecome a company.
Caroline Duell (14:05):
Elizabeth, flicking over to you now to sort
of talk a little bit about theAusSet program.
Elizabeth Stares (14:10):
Yeah, thanks, caroline.
As you know, we run the theAusSet program and you're part
of our New South Wales cohort,so cohort three.
What has attending the OSCEPprogram brought to you?
What have you learned?
Dr Yagiz Aksoy (14:25):
So many things Absolutely love being part of
OSCEP.
So OSCEP helped me shift frombeing a clinician researcher to
becoming a translational founderand, as much as it's easier
said than done, it actually hasso much further, deeper meaning
(14:46):
to it.
The program kind of gives methe language and tools to
navigate startup strategy,regulation and product
development.
But more importantly and that'sprobably one of the things that
(15:08):
I love the most about OSEP itgave me a community of
clinicians trying to solve realproblems in a different way.
It helped me to start thinkinglike someone building something
that has to work in the realworld but still thinking outside
the box and how to make thathappen.
Elizabeth Stares (15:35):
Thank you.
I think one of my favoritememories was in one of the pit
stops when the whole table werearound and they were so ent.
Are you able to look at thiskind of cancer and can you look
at this illness or this disease?
And they came up with lots andlots of alternative uses for
your gene therapy.
Dr Yagiz Aksoy (15:49):
It was one of those moments that also I
remember immensely and Iactually took notes from that
and I took those notes back tomy founders and our business
advisors saying, hey, I've beenpart of this OSIP and guess what
, today we had a greatdiscussion and the good thing
about that is we're allclinicians in that cohort.
So the ideas are coming from thepeople, when they understand
(16:13):
what I'm doing, how actually itcould be implemented, not just
in the way that we think, butalso to add to our pipeline.
All these, all these thoughtswere very valuable and the best
thing is, like normally we wouldbe spending our own time out
there trying to survey theseclinicians, trying to get the
(16:33):
right audience to understand ourtechnology and give a bit of
feedback.
Osep is the platform where wejust like show up and then
they're all there.
They're like our fellowparticipants, but they're
actually their clinicians andit's very valuable to get their
feedback.
And it's such a friendlyenvironment too, so we don't
(16:54):
actually get stressed about notsaying the right thing at the
right time.
Elizabeth Stares (17:03):
Yeah, so it's been a great experience so far.
Yeah, everyone's there to learnand I think that's and that's
shown definitely in the, theatmosphere, in the environment
that the pit stops and the, thecommunication between you all
has shown.
So what's next for you?
So you mentioned that you haveyour smart crc and I know you
got um, a aea grant as well.
(17:24):
Um, yeah, and this is going totake you to clinical trial.
Is that right?
Dr Yagiz Aksoy (17:29):
um.
It's definitely give us a verygood runway to further our
technology to prepare for thefirst in human trials.
So the aea um grant that wereceived just like gives us the
fuel to generate the keypreclinical data for us to move
forward, particularly in ourfirst targets in ophthalmology,
(17:52):
and the Smart CISO partnershipsgives us something even more
powerful a seat at the nationaltable.
At the national table we areone of the 63 partner
organisations and some of theindustry giants like CSL, merck,
cytiva, and to the best of myknowledge, we are the only
(18:12):
start-up on that list.
It validates what we arebuilding and positions us within
Australia's regenerativemedicine future, not just as a
participant but as a contributor, I would say.
And then the next stages for usis to raise further funds to
(18:32):
bring our research into theclinics and running our first in
human trials in the next threeto six months or so.
Caroline Duell (18:42):
And Yigiz, do you have a message for anyone
who might be considering joiningthe Australian Clinical
Entrepreneurs Program, becausewe're opening applications in
May.
Dr Yagiz Aksoy (18:54):
I cannot stress how important it was for me to
be part of the offset.
I'm not just saying it becauseI just attended and I just like
want to say a few words.
It was actually had.
It made a real impact.
So I would say all my fellowclinicians out there who have
been working in the system,either public or private, who
have seen problems and let'sface it, it's there everywhere
(19:19):
they're, like it comes fromevery lines of work either.
If you're a doctor or a nurse ora paramedic, you see something
and you see, and if you everwondered let me put it like that
if you ever, you know, afterthe work went back home just
like told your friend you knowwhat I've seen, xyz.
And wouldn't that be easier ifwe had done this, or if we
(19:41):
developed this, or if we have,you know, created this app, or
if we have did this research,wouldn't that make like
fantastic changes?
If you ever said something likethat, don't think twice.
Osep would be there to equipyou with the language and
(20:01):
strategy to successfully bringyour ideas to real life.
So, and that's all I can say,and I'm very strongly
encouraging all the fellowclinicians out there to consider
OSEP and I don't think you willdisappoint.
It's such a well-structuredprogram.
So I just want to say one moreagain, and obviously to you,
(20:25):
elizabeth it's just like such afascinating program.
In fact I feel a little bitlike sadness that I know it's
about to end and I have to sayshould I apply again just to be
part of the same, maybe anothercohort?
But no, I really stronglyencourage all the listeners.
Caroline Duell (20:44):
Well, hopefully you'll be able to keep in touch
with your cohort and your peers,who sound like a great
inspiration to you and you tothem.
So we wish you all the best,and it's been great to hear
about your entrepreneurialspirit and your passion to bring
this new technology drugdelivery platform for gene
(21:07):
therapy from the bench perhaps,hopefully soon to the bedside.
Dr Yagiz Aksoy (21:12):
I'm sure I strongly believe in that.
Caroline Duell (21:15):
That was Dr Yagiz Aksoy, a medical doctor at
Royal North Shore Hospital inSydney and co-founder of EOS
Gene Therapeutics, talking aboutdeveloping a new technology
platform to deliver gene therapyfor vision loss diseases like
diabetic retinopathy.
To find out how to be part ofthe next Australian Clinical
Entrepreneurs Program, visit theAUSCEP website to find out more
(21:39):
.
A-u-s-c-e-p dot A-U program.
Visit the OSCEP website to findout more.
Auscepau, you've been listeningto the MTP Connect 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
for more.
Until next time.
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