Category: News

Australian COVID-19 Research: From vaccines to aircon filters

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[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Research Australia, the national peak body for health and medical research, has released the first report in its COVID-19 series showcasing the incredible breadth of Australia’s COVID-19 research.

“Australians are rightly proud of our world-leading vaccine projects. There’s incredible work being done beyond the lab too – everything from guidelines for breastfeeding mothers to filters that have the potential to remove the coronavirus from air conditioning systems,” said Research Australia CEO, Nadia Levin.

“The true range of COVID-19 medical research is not evident to the researchers themselves, let alone governments and the general public who are relying on our medical researchers to get us through this pandemic.

“In this report we look at over 200 research projects to demonstrate the depth and breadth of COVID-19 research underway in Australia right now,” Nadia Levin said.

The volume of coronavirus medical research is testament to long-term investment in Australia’s medical research capacity, but that it had come at a cost.

“The sudden ‘downing of tools’ that must happen when researchers are called upon to pivot their research towards an urgent pandemic throws existing projects, and their funding, off course. Like other parts of the economy, health and medical research is suffering.

“Research Australia is already talking to its members about how we re-design a medical research system which can withstand these crises because there is a very real possibility COVID-19 won’t be the only pandemic we see in our lifetime,” Nadia Levin said.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

ANDHealth Releases Digital Health Industry Report

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[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Three years in the making, the report contains detailed information dating back to ANDHealth’s 2017 inception. The report notes that the global value of the digital health market is predicted to reach USD$505.4 billion by 2025, up from USD$86.4 billion in 2018.

Since mid-2017, ANDHealth has engaged with more than 300 companies, demonstrating a huge pipeline of high potential growth companies, representing a diverse set of clinical indications, technologies and end users settings in the digital health sector.

The greatest challenges facing the industry however is the ability to commercialise these technologies, access to capital, access to customers and access to the expertise necessary to market.

Despite this, publicly funded infrastructure capabilities in Australia such as the MyHealthRecord, the Digital Health CRC and substantial State-led initiatives have created the necessary environment upon which digital medicine and therapeutics companies can begin to build patient facing interventions to substantially improve outcomes.

The pipeline of companies and technologies outlined in the report demonstrates the potential to position Australia as a global destination for digital health development, commercialisation, clinical trials and implementation, delivering against the triple aim of post-COVID recovery investment:

  1. Economic growth through high value STEM-based companies headquartered in Australia, delivering globally;
  2. A resilient, agile, scalable and personalised healthcare system, focused on preventing, diagnosing, managing and treating illness using cutting edge technologies; and
  3. Expanded high-value manufacturing capabilities, through sensors, wearable, connected devices and regulated software products.

MTPConnect Chair, Sue MacLeman, said there was no longer any doubt that digital health is at the heart of the modern healthcare landscape.

“The technologies around data standardisation, artificial intelligence and machine learning are transforming healthcare services, with digital enablement and integrations pricing opportunities for continuous healthcare improvement that we couldn’t have imagined just a few years ago. Most excitingly, the possibilities for future innovations are profound,” Ms MacLeman said.

The report concluded that healthcare remains one of the last remaining sectors to experience wholesale disruption, until now. Digital health will be absolutely essential to delivering equitable, high-value and affordable care in the future.

As healthcare costs rise and consumers demand more from health systems around the world, digital interventions which improve health and wellbeing and save the system critical capital will be key. For our early innovators, such as the companies that the report highlights, this means navigating often uncharted waters, and linking into a growing and dynamic international network of innovators, investors and service providers to reach their global potential.

Read the Report here.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

Labor Lays Out Plan for Innovation and Science

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[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]In his address, which touched on everything from the invention of Australian bank notes and sheep-shearing to artificial intelligence and climate change,  Mr Albanese sought to outline his party’s vision for a path forward for Australia in a post-COVID environment.

At the heart of Labor’s Sixth Vision Statement was an Australian future “powered by science” to address the nation’s future challenges.

Mr Albanese highlighted Australia’s now obvious reliance on services and the export of raw materials.

“We’re making ourselves vulnerable to a decline in living standards,” Mr Albanese said.

“But this is our chance to start turning things around. The future belongs to those countries that innovate, adapt and adjust. When it comes to repairing and building that economy, technology and innovation will be key to boosting productivity, growing local manufacturing and achieving self-reliance.”

Although Mr Albanese’s title is the Leader of the Opposition, his approach outlined throughout his vision speeches reflects back to a statement he made in the first few months of his leadership.

“I want to be the Labor Leader not the Opposition Leader,” he said. This approach has permeated through to each of his vision statements, where he has advocated for a collaborative approach with the Morrison Government.

Mr Albanese did, however, carve out a difference of position to the Morrison Government in his call for greater R&D funding.

Criticising the former Abbott Government for “hollowing out the CSIRO”, the Labor Leader blamed the Morrison Government for low levels of R&D funding, noting that “R&D investment has fallen between 2 per cent of GDP” meaning it was now below countries like South Korea, Israel, Sweden, Denmark, and Singapore.

Australia needs a comprehensive plan to create a supply of STEM workers, which is undermined by contracting out at the CSIRO and cuts to R&D tax incentives.

Mr Albanese bellies the best-practice countries are the ones that drive innovation more directly, focusing their national research efforts into areas of comparative advantage or ‘national missions’.

Despite this criticism, Mr Albanese has joined the Prime Minister in calling for the innovative policy solutions to be guided by scientific facts rather than ideologies.

In his closing remarks, Mr Albanese said “Labor understands intrinsically the core role of science in improving lives, strengthening the economy and, ultimately, lifting us up as a nation and making us bigger as people.

“To brighten the future, we need only look to the core ingredients we’ve relied on before.”[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

Modelling shows tracking app critical to containing COVID second wave

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[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]While social distancing and high rates of testing remain the best ways to limit the spread, the Sax Institute researchers behind the modelling say the smartphone app could be “insurance” against reignition of the pandemic.

The modelling, published in the peer-reviewed journal Public Health Research & Practice, uses evidence on factors such as the speed and characteristics of the virus’s spread to project likely consequences for case numbers under various scenarios.

The ‘baseline’ scenario assumes a 50% monthly decline in social distancing and a 5% monthly drop in testing intensity going forward – the authors’ estimate of what was happening in May when the paper was written. Their model finds that if 61% of the population in this scenario downloaded the COVIDSafe app onto their phones, the number of infections in a second wave would be 55% lower than if there were no app.

In contrast, the current app uptake level (27%) would have a much smaller effect, resulting in only 24% fewer cases between April and December 2020, the modelling shows.

The research team, led by the Sax Institute’s Dr Danielle Currie, Senior Simulation Modeller, and Dr Michael Frommer, Senior Adviser, say the potential alternative to an effective response centred on social distancing, testing and contact tracing assisted by the app is that “restrictions on travel and social interaction…may need to be re-introduced”.

Dr Frommer said the model projections should be a clarion call for state and federal governments to redouble their efforts in promoting the app to the public as well as ensuring that any lingering technical issues are swiftly resolved.

“Testing and social distancing will exert the biggest influence on controlling the curve of the second wave, but the tracking app can play a very important role,” he said.

“At our current uptake levels, the app will help with contact tracing, but not significantly. What our work shows is that if we can push uptake to around three-fifths of the population, then it will make a huge difference. It would halve the number of people getting COVID-19 in the event of a second wave and decrease the death rate as well.”

The study involved an extensive literature review of the epidemiology of COVID-19, case-finding practices and factors that could affect the uptake of the app, and finally the development of a robust system dynamics model based on the behaviour of the virus and its interaction with social, behavioural, and policy factors, using pandemic data from Australia and across the world. The model projects the number of people infected by the virus through to the end of the year. It can be adjusted to account for different rates of testing, intensity of social distancing and uptake of the tracking app.

The modelling study is part of a special themed issue of Public Health Research & Practice on the public health lessons we are learning from the COVID pandemic.

In a Perspective article for this issue, Professor Julie Leask and Dr Claire Hooker, both of the University of Sydney, argue that better risk communication could have reduced the controversy around school closures in Australia due to the pandemic. Events leading up to the school closures created a “near perfect storm of fright factors”, they write, escalating people’s fear while reducing their trust in those working to manage the problem. The authors offer a step-by-step guide in managing communications during health crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

Two other COVID-related articles in this issue of Public Health Research & Practice find:

In an editorial for this issue, the journal’s Editor-in-Chief Professor Don Nutbeam, Principal Senior Adviser at the Sax Institute and Professor of Public Health at the University of Sydney, writes that maintaining the fragile consensus between governments, their scientific advisers and their citizens is critical to the successful control of the virus.

“The consensus will be sustained by mutual trust built on effective communication – between scientists and policy makers, and between governments and their populations.”[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

MedTech industry welcomes clinical trials harmonisation

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[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]“The medical technology industry has long advocated for national harmonisation of clinical trials and welcomes Minister Hunt’s announcement of a one-stop-shop for ethics approval,” said MTAA CEO Ian Burgess.

“Local clinical trials provide Australian patients with early access to innovative medical devices and treatments and place Australia at the forefront of global advancements of medical technology.

“An active medical device clinical trial environment in Australia will provide local expertise to support Australian start-ups and research groups, accelerating their growth and retaining capability and expertise within Australia,” Mr Burgess said.

For Australia to continue to attract the level of clinical trial activity that it has achieved over the past two decades, it is important that strategies are implemented to enhance the clinical trial environment in Australia including:

  • Reliable, predictable, unified and rapid Site Research Governance
  • A single streamlined ethical review for all studies, irrespective of whether they are conducted in private or public setting and irrespective of phase of study
  • Consistent approaches by States and Territories to support the efficient and cost-effective conduct of studies
  • Establishing an Australian Coordinating Body for Clinical Trials would provide an entity that has the mandate and resources to drive the change needed to improve Australia’s global competitiveness in attracting clinical trials.
  • Supportive and efficient regulatory pathway to transition to commercialisation and reimbursement.

“As we emerge from the COVID-19 crisis, it is more important than ever that we do everything we can to ensure the benefits of modern, innovative and reliable medical technology are delivered effectively to provide better health outcomes to the Australian community, and we welcome this announcement by Minister Hunt,” Mr Burgess concluded.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

EDWARDS LIFESCIENCES EMPLOYEES BECOME SUPERHEROES FOR HEARTKIDS

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[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Super Boss Day is a fun initiative to help raise funds for HeartKids, the only national charity dedicated to supporting all infants, children, young people and adults affected by congenital and acquired heart disease. The causes of this disease remain largely unclear.

In Australia, 8 babies every day are born with congenital heart disease. Funds go to supporting our brave children who battle heart disease every day and their families who fight along-side them.

The Edwards Lifesciences Foundation has had a long-standing partnership with HeartKids as part of its commitment to making a difference in communities where Edwards’ employees live and work, and during this COVID-19 period the Foundation has been generous by doubling the contribution from its employee.

Managing Director of Edwards Lifesciences ANZ, Pat Williams said:

“At Edwards we like to have some fun on our Friday all employee video call. This week we wanted to give everyone some extra motivation, so we came dressed up as our favourite superhero and if possible, make a contribution towards a great cause.

“Our commitment to charitable giving and participation in philanthropic causes is one of the defining elements of our culture and I’m pleased that we exceeded our target.

“Locally, we’re proud that 97% of our employees undertook volunteering activities in our communities last year with an aspiration of 100% participation each year.”

CEO of HeartKids, Rob Lutter said:

“The Edwards Lifesciences Foundation has been a generous supporter of HeartKids for many years, in the form of donations, grants and support of our campaigns and events. We look forward to that ongoing partnership.”

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NEW REAL-WORLD DATA FROM MEDTRONIC GLOBAL SYMPLICITY REGISTRY SHOW RENAL DENERVATION LOWERED BLOOD PRESSURE IN PATIENTS WITH HYPERTENSION OUT TO THREE YEARS

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[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]The study showed RDN led to significant and clinically meaningful reductions in blood pressure that were sustained out to three years post-procedure (17 mmHg OSBP (office systolic blood pressure)), with more patients achieving BP below 140 mmHg, while those at very high BP levels experiencing drops into lower risk BP ranges. The number of patients at the very highest BP level – greater than 180 mmHg systolic at baseline – dropped by two-thirds at three years. Additionally, the number of patients who had reported office systolic BP less than 140 mmHg – a more controlled level of BP – increased from 13 percent at baseline to 39 percent at three years. The BP drops occurred while patients were prescribed an average of four or more anti-hypertensive medications, which remained unchanged over three years. The absence of increase in medications suggest that RDN’s effect was independent of anti-hypertensive medication burden. RDN continued to show a strong safety profile at three years with an incidence of renal artery stenosis of 0.3 percent, which is within the expected range for patients with hypertension not undergoing denervation.

“In the largest real-world study of patients receiving renal denervation, we are seeing significant and clinically meaningful reductions in both office and 24-hr blood pressure sustained out to three years post-procedure, which demonstrates the durability of RDN,” said Felix Mahfoud, M.D., cardiologist at Saarland University Medical Center in Homburg, Germany, who presented the data during the meeting. “These data reinforce that RDN is a viable, complementary option with positive effects on hypertensive patients without requiring an increase in medication burden over time.”

The Global SYMPLICITY Registry is the largest study documenting the long-term safety and effectiveness of the Medtronic renal denervation systems in a real-world setting in patients with uncontrolled hypertension. To date, the registry has enrolled more than 2,860 patients treated with RDN and includes three-year follow-up for more than 2,500 patients. The data presented at PCR closely mirror a recent manuscript of GSR data published in JACC, which reported that RDN showed lasting results in a variety of high-risk patients, including those with diabetes, chronic kidney disease (CKD), isolated systolic hypertension (ISH), or resistant hypertension.

“Following the positive SPYRAL HTN-OFF MED Pivotal data presented at ACC, these new data provide additional evidence on the safety and efficacy of renal denervation to help manage uncontrolled hypertension, with study patients experiencing meaningful blood pressure reductions out to several years,” said Dave Moeller, vice president and general manager of the Coronary and Renal Denervation business, which is part of the Cardiac and Vascular Group at Medtronic. “As the body of clinical evidence supporting renal denervation grows, we are encouraged by the outcomes observed in both controlled clinical trials and real-world practice.”

Hypertension is the single largest contributor to cardiovascular death; it dramatically increases risk of heart attack, stroke, heart failure, and kidney failure. The annual direct costs of hypertension are estimated at US$500 billion worldwide. It is estimated that almost 20 percent of patients are completely non-adherent to oral medications while nearly half are partially non-adherent, highlighting the need for alternative treatment options.

In addition to the Global SYMPLICITY Registry, the Medtronic SPYRAL HTN Global Clinical Program includes the SPYRAL HTN-OFF MED PIVOTAL and SPYRAL HTN-ON MED Trials, both prospectively powered, randomized, sham-controlled studies evaluating patients with uncontrolled blood pressure in the absence and presence of prescribed anti-hypertensive medications respectively.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

MedTech crucial to COVID-19 response despite significant hit to industry: new report

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The reports, available here, reveal the true impact of COVID-19 on the MedTech, biotechnology and pharmaceutical sector, an impact felt not only by local SMEs and large multinational companies, but also across the research sector, industry associations and startups.

“The impacts of COVID-19 will be felt across the MedTech industry for many years to come,” said Ian Burgess, MTAA CEO, today.

“The industry is facing significant challenges, including exponential increases in freight costs, the Aussie dollar and the ongoing impacts of the elective surgery pause.

“Despite the challenges posed by COVID-19, we have seen MedTech companies come together in an unprecedented effort to support the Government’s response,” Mr Burgess said.

Through an historical collaboration with the Morrison Government, the MedTech industry successfully secured supplies of essential medical equipment, not only through the global supply chain but through a number of innovative local partnerships that were able to ramp up Australian manufacturing in a remarkably short period of time.

“The MedTech industry has been instrumental in securing essential supplies of ventilators, test kits and PPE on behalf of the Australian Government,” Mr Burgess said.

In addition to sourcing supplies of equipment through the supply chain, in what is being compared to a wartime effort, a consortium of companies was brought together to build a locally produced ventilator, in an unprecedented collaboration involving government, clinicians and manufacturers, many of whom would ordinarily be competitors.

“The efforts undertaken so far represent a significant change in our contemporary understanding of our domestic manufacturing capacity and demonstrate an untapped potential for more homegrown medtech, a potential we may never have realised without the unprecedented threat of a global pandemic,” Mr Burgess said.

“The tangible outcomes of what is coming to be known as the ‘Australia Model’ of government and industry collaboration have demonstrated the role that the MedTech can play in pandemic planning and what can be achieved when government and industry come together in a genuinely cooperative effort.”

“As an industry, we look forward to what we can continue to achieve together in order to strengthen not only Australia’s preparedness for future pandemics, but our healthcare system as a whole,” Mr Burgess concluded.

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MEDTRONIC AND FOXCONN PARTNER TO INCREASE VENTILATOR PRODUCTION

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[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]“No single company can meet the current demands for ventilators that are critical in the fight against COVID-19. Joining together with Foxconn immediately increases our production capacity to meet the increased demand and creates a flexible manufacturing model for us,” said Vafa Jamali, senior vice president and president of the Respiratory, Gastrointestinal and Informatics business, which is part of the Minimally Invasive Therapies Group at Medtronic. “Together, we can increase ventilator supply and help more patients and clinicians than any one company can do alone.”

“Foxconn is grateful to all front-line professionals who tirelessly work to serve others and is proud to partner with Medtronic to address this global pandemic. Foxconn’s manufacturing capabilities can bring to market life-saving medical equipment during these challenging times,” said Foo-Ming Fu, CEO of Foxconn Industrial Internet Wisconsin. “Foxconn’s flexibility to quickly react to global markets makes opportunities with partners like this possible. In the last two months, we went from zero ventilator manufacturing capabilities to a tested, qualified ventilator manufacturing cell.”

The two companies connected after Medtronic publicly shared the design specifications for the PB560 through the Medtronic ventilator open source initiative, which launched earlier this year. This effort allows global participants to evaluate options for rapid ventilator manufacturing at scale to help doctors treat patients fighting COVID-19. To date, there have been more than 200,000 registrations for the design specifications at Medtronic.com/openventilator.

To respond to global demand, if needed, Medtronic and Foxconn can increase their production capability to more than double the current Foxconn ventilator commitment.

Introduced in 2010, the PB560 is sold in more than 35 countries around the world. It is a compact, lightweight, and portable ventilator that provides airway support for both adults and children. It can be used in clinical settings and at home and provides mobile respiratory support.

Ventilators play a critical role in the management of patients with severe respiratory illness, such as COVID-19, who require assistance because they cannot breathe effectively. Without ventilation support, some patients with severe respiratory disease might not survive. By placing a patient on a ventilator, the patient’s lungs are permitted to rest and recover while the ventilator performs the functions of supplying oxygen and simulating the actions of breathing.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

We Want Your Input: MTP Workforce Skills Survey

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[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]“The life sciences sector in Australia is a thriving growth area and one that has made and continues to make an enormous and significant contribution to our pandemic response,” said Ian Burgess, MTAA CEO.

“It is also a sector that brings together a unique mix of skillsets. I encourage your organisation to contribute to this important survey to ensure that we can plan more effectively for the future growth of our industry,” Mr Burgess said.

We are inviting managers with hiring responsibilities or an HR professional to complete this 10-15 minute online survey by 1 July 2020. The results will help us to address any gaps and drive greater sector growth across Australia. If you are not a hiring manager or an HR professional, we ask that you please forward this invitation to eligible individuals within your organisation. Responses will remain anonymous and confidential.

We recognise that due to the COVID-19 crisis, organisations are unlikely to be operating in the usual manner at this time. So, we’re asking everyone to please answer the questions assuming ‘business as usual’ – that is, based on experiences before the COVID-19 situation may have resulted in organisational or hiring changes.

After we gather this data, our project team will release the findings later in 2020, so watch this space. You only need to complete the survey once.

TAKE THE SURVEY

We hope you can take the time to complete the survey and help to grow the MTP sector for the future.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]