Melbourne, Australia; 9 August 2017: Starpharma (ASX: SPL, OTCQX: SPHRY) today announced that Starpharma and Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences (MIPS) have been awarded $300,000 in grant funding from the SIEF STEM⁺ Business Fellowship Program to engage two post-doctoral Research Fellows. The funding, across two separate programs, will allow Starpharma and MIPS to further advance collaborative programs utilising Starpharma’s Targeted DEP^® platform.

Starpharma’s Targeted DEP^® platform uses DEP^® conjugates, which incorporate antibodies, to enhance drug concentration at the disease site and reduce off-target toxicity to improve therapeutic outcomes for cancer patients. The application of this funding will build upon Starpharma’s impressive Targeted DEP^® Herceptin^® conjugate results reported in an ovarian cancer model¹. Starpharma has also partnered with two world-leading antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) companies on additional Targeted DEP^® programs.

Starpharma CEO, Dr Jackie Fairley, commented “We are delighted to collaborate once again with the internationally renowned researchers in drug delivery from Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences. This collaboration will expand the activities around our novel Targeted DEP^® conjugates and is expected to generate exciting technical results and considerable commercial benefits by way of new intellectual property and commercialisation opportunities for Starpharma” said Dr Fairley.

“The SIEF STEM⁺ business fellowship program is a great opportunity to further our long standing and highly successful collaboration with Starpharma and to further develop next generation targeting approaches for the DEP^® dendrimer drug delivery platform” said MIPS Director, Professor Chris Porter.

¹ See ASX announcements on 2 February 2016 and 16 November 2015.

About the SIEF STEM⁺ Business Fellowship program

The Science and Industry Endowment Fund (SIEF) provides grants to science and scientists for the purposes of assisting Australian industry, furthering the interests of the Australian community and contributing to the achievement of Australian national objectives. SIEF’s STEMᶧ Business Fellowship program is supporting collaboration between Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and the research sector to implement ideas with commercial potential and is creating a cohort of industry-savvy Early Career Researchers capable of addressing national challenges.

About Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences (MIPS) 

MIPS is Australia’s largest, most experienced and successful group of pharmaceutical scientists. MIPS integrates research from four key discipline-based themes including: Medicinal Chemistry and Drug Action; Centre for Drug Candidate Optimisation; Drug Delivery, Disposition and Dynamics; and Drug Discovery Biology - to identify, develop, optimise and deliver new drug treatments, ultimately translating basic research into clinical trials. MIPS has long-term collaborative research programs with more than 20 biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies, including strong partnerships with industry leaders such as Servier and GlaxoSmithKline. 

Download ASX Announcement: Starpharma and Monash awarded STEM+ Business Fellowships (PDF, 139kb)