CSL Limited Annual Report 2021/22 33 ‘ Formalising a place to nurture promising start-ups is a natural extension of our long-term support of, and collaboration with many like-minded partners. We hope to see significant long-term health, social and R&D benefits from this initiative, including greater retention and upskilling of domestic research and development capabilities and an increase in commercial acumen of [Melbourne Biomedical] Precinct researchers.’ Dr Andrew Nash, Chief Scientific Officer and Senior Vice President, Research Each year, CSL works to identify promising research programs across the globe which will benefit most from industry collaboration and support. In October 2021, WEHI and CSL, announced a collaboration to create a Centre for Biologic Therapies (Centre) which will combine WEHI’s expertise in immunology, cancer, inflammatory disorders and infectious diseases with CSL’s world-class human antibody library and experience in biologic drug discovery and development. Based at WEHI, the Centre will provide access to expert biologic discovery and optimisation capabilities accelerating drug development into the clinic, ultimately addressing a current gap in Australian medical research. The Centre aims to generate high-quality and clinic-ready therapeutic antibodies against novel targets in human disease. The partners will contribute equal funding to the Centre, with a combined investment of A$10 million for the next five years. In November 2021, CSL announced a collaboration with StartX, the industry and stage-agnostic community of founders based in Silicon Valley, as an Innovation Partner over a two-year program. Through this partnership, CSL will support entrepreneurs in the StartX community as they commercialise innovative technologies and develop novel therapeutics. By providing access to commercial, R&D, clinical, intellectual property, marketing and manufacturing expertise, CSL will work with the StartX community to accelerate the start-up trajectory and deliver outcomes to patients faster. Similarly, the partnership will further one of CSL’s innovation goals of broadening and diversifying its R&D portfolio through strategic partnering with biotech incubators, accelerators and entrepreneurial ecosystems. ‘ The Centre for Biologic Therapies is an interface of innovation between research and industry and sets the foundations for significant growth in the Australian biologics discovery and development space that has the potential to create opportunities for researchers locally and innovative medicines for patients globally.’ Dr William Mezzanotte, Executive Vice President, Head of Research and Development and Chief Medical Officer In support of the yearly seasonal influenza vaccine epidemic, CSL Seqirus collaborates with the WHO Collaborating Centre in Melbourne, Australia to prepare vaccine seeds and potency reagents that are made widely available. This is an important contribution to assist with the global effort to prepare for the forthcoming vaccination season. Influenza remains one of our greatest global health threats. CSL is committed to collaborating with like-minded partners to advance understanding of the human response to influenza and to discover new and innovative vaccine solutions. CSL’s research development programwill benefit from the recent multi-year contract with the US Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) to investigate influenza vaccine technologies and develop cell-based and sa-mRNA influenza A (H2Nx) vaccine candidates for assessment in a Phase I clinical study with the goal of helping to safeguard communities in the event of an influenza pandemic. This builds on our longstanding public-private partnership to provide a rapid response in the event of an influenza pandemic. The company will continue to consider options for an industrial-scale mRNA vaccine manufacturing facility and determine where it is most compatible within our global network. As announced in November 2020, a new facility for the manufacture of cell-based influenza vaccines is currently under construction in Melbourne and is on track to open in 2026. Strategic support for innovative medical research One of our core values at CSL is innovation and over the past year we have continued to support collaborative innovation through the endowment of the following awards to researchers around the world. • The Heimburger award is a global award available to researchers across the world. Professor Dr Norbert Heimburger, a CSL Behring employee for over three decades, was a pioneer of modern coagulation therapy. Among his many achievements, Prof Dr Heimburger developed virus-safe plasma products based on pasteurisation, including launching the first effectively virus-inactivated FVIII concentrate in 1981. In his honour, CSL Behring created the Heimburger Award, recognising clinical and/or preclinical research of emerging coagulation specialists who are driven to improve the care of patients with bleeding disorders. In July 2021, five recipients from Australia, Belgium, Italy, Ireland and the Netherlands received this award. • In October 2021, two Australian scientists were each awarded a CSL Centenary Fellowship, valued at A$1.25 million over five years, to investigate two novel technologies to enable the rapid development of antiviral drugs and to unravel the processes that enable production of proteins from genes, both of which will generate fundamental knowledge that could transform how we fight disease.
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