By Gregory Mannix, Chief Conference Officer, Vice President International Business Development, LSN
Life Sciences Queensland has joined forces with LSN and the RESI conference to move the needle in the life sciences. They are sponsoring a delegation of constituent companies to participate in Digital RESI, as part of their active efforts to advance life sciences in their region.
Aptly titled Australia’s ‘Sunshine State’, Queensland has a globally competitive life sciences sector with significant financial investment and support from the state government to harness the region’s unique capabilities in biomedical R&D and infrastructure.
Government initiatives, like Advance Queensland, are aimed at harnessing the opportunities available in science and innovation to grow and diversify the state’s economy, create jobs, and secure a long-term financial future in the life sciences. As a result, Queensland welcomes a wide array of global start-ups, SMEs and larger companies, to establish business operations in the state and undertake research and clinical trials, by partnering with many world-class universities and research organisations.
Life Sciences Queensland (LSQ) is an industry-led peak body supporting Queensland’s broad life sciences industry. Representing more than 170 industry members, LSQ aims to influence public policy and grow industry businesses to create a dynamic, internationally competitive and sustainable life sciences sector in Queensland. LSQ members forge new frontiers in fields critical to human health, sustainable development and economic prosperity — spanning medical devices and diagnostics, medicines, agricultural and marine biotechnology, animal health and bioenergy.
One of many initiatives by LSQ to nurture the state’s life sciences industry is the LS Catalyst program, run in partnership with Advance Queensland. The program is committed to supporting and growing the entrepreneurial culture and start-up ecosystem in the life sciences sector by providing companies with opportunities at all stages of the innovation spectrum. The program aims to create a unique roadmap with customised solutions for each new start-up or SME through quality access to mentors, training, and introductions to investors and business networks.
Foxo Technology, Nadu and Specialist Airway Solutions are just three participants in the LS Catalyst program to benefit from opportunities to partner with investors and present a pitch at this year’s Digital RESI Virtual Conference. In addition to pitching, LS Catalyst program participants OrthoDx and QHeart Medical will also participate in the conference’s prestigious Innovation Challenge Final.
VP R&D and Quality of QHeart Medical Dr. MadhusudanRao Neeli recently shared his thoughts heading into the conference.
“QHeart Medical is very excited to be part of the RESI Life Science Investment Conference and to have competitively ranked in the top 35 companies for the Innovation Challenge Final,” Dr Neeli said.
A supporter of initiatives aimed at cultivating opportunities for start-ups and small business, LSQ is proud to champion the potential of Queensland’s biotechnology sector to feed, fuel and heal the world through initiatives like the Digital RESI Virtual Conference in 2020.
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Life Sciences Queensland
LSQ is a Member based organisation that is working for the life sciences industry in Queensland. LSQ recognises and supports the Queensland Government’s commitment to work with industry, to build infrastructure and attract world-class individuals to form the basis of a life sciences industry in Queensland. As an industry-led vehicle, which promotes and supports all segments of the life sciences industry, LSQ works to enhance Queensland’s national and international reputation as a centre of commercial and research excellence in life sciences.
Foxo
On average, doctors spend 66 minutes on hold, send and receive 75 emails between staff and their network, and experience missed calls, messages, and errors that impact efficiencies and patient safety every single day. The lack of a wide-reaching collaborative healthcare network continues to lock communication and health information in silos behind primitive systems. Foxo presents national and global health with an interoperable, collaborative platform (desktop/mobile) that enables real-time messaging between clinicians, nurses, teams, departments, and organisations. Built on scalable infrastructure, easy to deploy, and approved by Qhealth, Foxo features the requisite tools, integrations, and workflows required for powerful, fast, borderless clinical communication.
Nadu
Nadu, be nice to your nose! Nadu is a range of self-administered nasal cleaning & medicinal delivery devices that reduces symptoms of respiratory diseases such as chronic sinusiuts, allergic sinusitus, hayfever, cystic fibrosis, influenza as well as removing allergens & air-borne pathogens. The hand-held devices are easy to travel with and provide real-time data to health care professionals such as ENTs, doctors and allergists. The patent-pending capsule technology allows for the delivery of medication and the tracing of dose, frequency and type straight to the Nadu App. The Nadu technology is based on a parallel innovation model; allowing us to develop multiple-time-use devices for the developed world and single-time-use sterile medicinal delivery devices for disaster relief and pandemic management to reduce risk of disease transmission, manage air-quality issues and reduce respiratory infections.
OrthoDx
SynvIchor by OrthoDx is a molecular diagnostic designed to differentiate between sterile and infection causes of joint inflammation. This technology leverages the host immune response to report to the physician whether the cause of the patient’s joint pain is inflammatory or infective. The difference in treatment is significant. This means antibiotics are reserved only for those that need it. The diagnostic is rapid (less than 3hrs) reliable (works in every patient with an intact immune system) and accurate (high negative predictive value).
QHeart Medical
QHeart Medical is a private Australian medical device company developing and commercializing a novel therapy device for highly unserved moderate heart failure. Also referred to as preserved ejection fraction heart failure (HFpEF), this subset of patients represents 40-50% of patients and is a significant unmet clinical need as there are currently no suitable therapies for this patient population. HFpEF patients have increased aortic stiffness by 88% relative to young controls, and increased pulse pressure and heart rate. Our core value is to reduce the high cost of treatment and improve the quality of life for patients suffering from moderate heart failure and we are competitively positioned to serve this need with the BioQ CA disruptive technology. The BioQ CA device has been validated in animal and pilot human testing, has 3 issued and 2 pending patents for global markets, and has an experienced management team and partnership with leading research and manufacturing groups.
Specialist Airway Solutions
Specialist Airway Solutions is developing the D-FLECT deflectable-tip bougie designed to help anaesthetists successfully intubate the difficult airway. The D-FLECT bougie is a novel single-use tracheal tube introducer that can negotiate the highly angled curves of a difficult airway. Upward deflection of the tip allows the bougie to be easily inserted into the trachea to facilitate faster intubation. Successful intubation during anaesthesia or critical care is vital to prevent complications, which can be catastrophic. There is a vast unmet need for an improved introducer as 50 million intubations are conducted annually worldwide, of which up to 30% are considered difficult.
