A $2 million grant awarded to establish the Queensland Drug Discovery Alliance (QDDA) will align and grow Queensland’s small molecule therapeutic discovery capability under the leadership of Therapeutic Innovation Australia (TIA).

The funding from the Queensland Government’s Department of Environment, Science and Innovation (DESI) will unite and strengthen three flagship Queensland facilities: the Queensland Emory Drug Discovery Initiative (QEDDI, UniQuest), the Centre for Integrated Preclinical Drug Development (CIPDD, The University of Queensland) and Compounds Australia (Institute for Biomedicine and Glycomics, Griffith University).

QDDA aims to bridge the gap from basic discovery to clinical development, commercialisation, and market entry, accelerating drug discovery and enabling more effective translation of Queensland’s biomedical research.

TIA CEO Dr Stuart Newman said: “Queensland’s world class research base is underpinned by sophisticated research infrastructure, however, a challenge in realising our potential has been fragmentation, with infrastructure spread across universities, research institutes, and commercial enterprises.

“This Queensland-based strategic alliance will strengthen and expand a framework through which academic and industry groups can advance drug discovery programs through key early stages of development.”

The recent funding was awarded through the Research Infrastructure Co-Investment Fund (RICF), which has invested $26.1 million since it was established in 2019 into critical research infrastructure facilities in Queensland.

RICF seeks to boost Queensland’s research capability by investing in new innovative projects to ensure the state remains at the forefront of innovation, science, health, and technology.

It complements the Australian Government’s National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS), providing critical co-investment in NCRIS facilities in Queensland.

Through NCRIS funding, TIA has committed more than $4 million to support the operational and capital expenditure for the three QDDA facilities.

The funds will be used to employ highly skilled technical staff to sustain the growing demand of biomedical researchers for the critical services and resources provided by the QDDA facilities.

QDDA proposes to be an exemplar of a cross-disciplinary translational workforce, with expertise in chemistry, biology, engineering, and information technology coming together to realise the delivery of critical drug discovery and development capabilities.

By boosting Queensland’s drug discovery pipeline and delivering tailored training and education forums, QDDA will create high-tech, high-value jobs and retain substantial workforce benefits in Queensland.

Queensland Chief Scientist Professor Kerrie Wilson said the QDDA would supercharge translation of Queensland’s drug discovery pipeline.

“This initiative will provide much needed training for Queensland’s biomedical workforce and help position the state at the forefront of Asia-Pacific innovation in therapeutic drug discovery development and translation,” Professor Wilson said.

“Investing in such projects through the RICF program enables research facilities to have the latest critical infrastructure in place to enable Queensland scientists to drive research and development.”

QEDDI, located at the University of Queensland and a business unit of UniQuest, is a world-class small molecule drug discovery group, dedicated to translating academic biomedical research into drug candidates for partnering.

UniQuest’s Head of Strategic Partnerships and Founding Director of QEDDI, Dr Andrew Harvey, said: “Our team of industry experienced medicinal chemists and biologists work in collaboration with researchers to develop improved treatments for patients with unmet need, working with researchers to develop ‘investment ready’ lead molecules and data packages.

“The QDDA will facilitate researchers from around Queensland to access QEDDI’s industry know-how in therapeutic development.”

CIPDD in the School of Biomedical Sciences (SBMS), established at the University of Queensland in 2005, provides access to advanced preclinical disease models to enable drug discovery-translation, data regularly used for patent enablement and preparation of investor packages.

Head of SBMS, Professor Elizabeth Coulson, said: “CIPDD’s preclinical capabilities can be used to develop novel models of disease, probe the pathobiology of human disease conditions, and screen new molecules for in-vivo therapeutic activity as a means to progress novel drug discoveries towards commercialisation into products for improving human health”.

Compounds Australia, the national compound management facility located at the Institute for Biomedicine and Glycomics at Griffith University, provides Queensland and Australian researchers with access to high-quality small molecule compound libraries and industry-standard compound storage and management services.

Deputy Vice Chancellor (Research) and Acting Director of the Institute for Biomedicine and Glycomics, Professor Lee Smith, said: “Historically, those critical research capabilities were largely limited to big pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies.”

“Compounds Australia provides access to critical resources for drug screening and hit identification and is uniquely capable of supporting local and national drug discovery programs of any scale,” Professor Smith said.

Compounds Australia previously received a $1.875 million Queensland Government RICF grant in 2019 to perform a large-scale infrastructure upgrade.

Compounds Australia Academic Director Professor Sally-Ann Poulsen said: “Compounds Australia is grateful for the continued support from the Queensland Government and DESI to further enhance our critical national research infrastructure and accelerate drug discovery and translation”.