Posted: 8 August 2024
Experienced business journalists and podcasters, Rachel Williamson and Charis Palmer, have joined forces to fill a significant gap in Australia’s media landscape for health innovators, today launching a new podcast called Phase III.
The concept for Phase III emerged from widely canvassed views that health innovators are under-represented in mainstream Australian media. As the fourth estate contracts with further senior and specialist journalist redundancies, and newsrooms begin to experiment with artificial intelligence (AI), the time is now for independent, curated journalism.
Enter, Phase III, a brand new media channel designed to share the inner-workings of the life sciences and biotechnology sector, and the bright minds it attracts.
Australia is now home to 178 ASX-listed and more than 1230 private biotechnology companies1. It is not an industry for the faint hearted, with the average product life cycle taking around 10-15 years to reach the market – a period often referred to as the “valley of death” due to the complexity and risk profile of business endeavours intrinsically linked to improving lives.
“Phase III exists to take listeners into deeply curated themes and people-centric stories from Australia’s health, life science and biotechnology sectors – a fascinating industry which deserves more time in the limelight than the current media landscape affords,” said Phase III Podcast host, Rachel Williamson.
“Together with Charis Palmer, a highly experienced media executive and producer, we are committing ourselves and our resources to quality storytelling, which informs, teaches and excites our listeners. Phase III is also seeking to uncover the next big opportunities, so for those with a penchant for investing, it will be a place to source thorough and informed market insights too.”
Phase III balances the scientific, human interest and commercial sides of each story, inviting listeners to take a front row seat to examine a sector defined by white-knuckled leadership and brave, life-changing innovation. The first episode is now live, exploring the silent killer of kidney disease.
“Kidney disease is a silent killer, with only 10% of all people knowing they have it before damage has been done. But in the last five years there’s been a surge of work that’s resulted in the FDA approving some blockbuster drugs in the last 18 months. Billion-dollar takeovers are now on the table and a tiny number of Australian biotechs in this sector are at the heart of the action. Our first Phase III series features compelling commentary from those leading this work,” said Phase III Podcast Producer, Charis Palmer.
Interviewees across Phase III series 1, ‘The Silent Killer’, (in order of appearance):
- Director of the NHMRC Clinical Trials Centre (CTC) and Director of CTC’s Kidney Health Research team, Professor Meg Jardine.
- Healthcare and biotech equities analyst, Chris Kallos, CFA.
- PYC Therapeutics CEO Dr Rohan Hockings
- Dimerix CEO Dr Nina Webster
- Kidney Health Australia general manager of clinical and research Breony Robson
- Proteomics International managing director Dr Richard Lipscombe
- Certa Therapeutics CEO Professor Darren Kelly
Phase III will be paced at one 30-minute episode per week, with an occasional hiatus so its founders can earn a crust and nurture their loved ones (which include small humans). Like the audience they serve, Williamson and Palmer have embraced the risk of establishing a new media entity, currently homed on Buzzsprout and backed by opt-in subscriber contributions. Put simply, independent media needs support – click here to donate and/or subscribe to Phase III.
