A NEW national Drug Discovery Centre is to be funded by the Federal Government in an attempt to turn scientific discoveries into new medicines faster, Minister for Health Greg Hunt has announced.
An investment of $25 million will see the centre established at Melbourne's Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, equipped with "advanced robotic systems' to speed drug development.
"The robotics equipment will enable the centre's world-class researchers to screen hundreds of thousands of chemicals and rapidly identify which ones can alter processes in the body implicated in a particular disease or condition," Hunt said.
The new facility is planned for opening in Jun this year with funding courtesy of the Government's Medical Research Future Fund, with the aim of filling a "known gap in the drug discovery pipeline in Australia".
The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute is also contributing to the creation of the new centre, with its funding courtesy of philanthropic support as well as $32.1 million from the sale of royalty rights for venetoclax, an anti-cancer treatment based on a research discovery made at the Institute in the 1980s.
"The discovery and commercial success of venetoclax is a leading example of how Australia can benefit from great discoveries, and how as a nation we can continually excel in health and medical research on the international stage," the Minister said.
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