Dr David Reddy, CEO, Medicines for Malaria Venture

Dr David Reddy has been CEO of Medicines for Malaria Venture since January 2011. Under his leadership, this not-for-profit research foundation has brought forward 5 new antimalarial drugs, broadened its malaria-drug pipeline to include 9 novel drugs in clinical development. In addition it has received Board and donor endorsement of a 5-year strategy focused on developing new medicines to address the unmet needs of vulnerable populations most affected by malaria.

MMV is a global, multi-stakeholder public-private and civil society collaboration that mobilizes and shares knowledge and expertise, technology and financial resources to address the global heath challenge posed by malaria. Partners include the WHO, Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria, academia, industry, NGOs, International Organizations, National Malaria Control Programmes and the private sector, including Australian resources companies. MMVis funded by Foundations (BMGF, the Welcome Trust, ExxonMobil Foundation), Governments (including the US, UK, Norwegian, Swiss, Japanese, Irish and Australian) and the private sector.

Prior to joining MMV, David was a Vice President in the Global Product Strategy unit at F. Hoffman-La Roche Ltd, Basel Switzerland, where he served as Pandemic Taskforce Leader. Prior to that he was the Global Franchise Leader for HIV/AIDS at Roche, where he oversaw the successful development and introduction of enfuvirtide, the first HIV fusion inhibitor. His résumé includes over 20 years of ‘Pharma’ experience, including successful leadership of drug development teams, licensing and alliance management, product and disease area management, market analytics and business planning. His roles also included interfacing with governments, NGOs and patient advocacy groups around access to medicines for priority diseases.

David holds a PhD in Cellular and Molecular Biology from the University of Auckland, New Zealand and completed a post-doctoral fellowship at the Freidrich Miescher Institute in Basel.

Dr Mark Sullivan, CEO, Medicines Development for Global Health

Mark has over 20 years’ experience in the development of small molecules, therapeutic and prophylactic vaccines and microbicides. This experience includes 10 years with Glaxo (now GSK) at their research and development headquarters in London, United Kingdom, two years with Gilead Sciences at their head office in San Francisco, USA and three years at University of New South Wales. Mark has a clinical research background which encompasses first-in-human, proof-of-concept , pivotal phase II and III, phase IIIb and phase IV studies and regulatory submissions (two New Drug Applications). Mark founded Medicines Development in 2005 for the development of medicines and vaccines that may have limited commercial opportunity, but which address important unmet medical needs.

Paul Field, Senior Investment Specialist, Austrade

Paul Field brings to Austrade a deep background in the life sciences industry, having facilitated a number of commercial deals in areas such as novel therapeutics, biomarkers, medical devices and other technologies developed by Australian biotech companies and research institutions. He was previously Executive Chairman of Bio-Link Australia, a biotechnology business development company with offices in Melbourne and Sydney.

Before joining Bio-Link, Paul managed the biotech start-up company incubator at the Australian Technology Park, Redfern. Earlier he was Commercialisation Manager at the University of Technology, Sydney and he managed international sales for Cellabs Pty Ltd, an Australian immunodiagnostics company, including a four year posting in Munich, Germany. He also previously worked in the Sydney office of the Japanese trading house Itochu, with a focus on medical technologies. He is currently a Non-Executive Director of the Co-operative Research Centre for Living with Autism Spectrum Disorders (Autism CRC Ltd.) and a Non-Executive Director of the ANZ Breast Cancer Trials Group (ANZBCTG) which is the largest independent oncology clinical trials research organisation in Australia and New Zealand.

As a Senior Investment Specialist, Paul will focus on advanced manufacturing, services and technologies. He will be based in Sydney.

Assoc. Prof. David Anderson, Deputy Director, Burnet Institute

David Anderson is Deputy Director of the Burnet Institute in Melbourne, Australia, where he has spent his entire professional career since starting as a student in 1982 with Prof Ian Gust, including long-term collaborations in China since 1992.

He is responsible for coordination of research and development and commercialisation at the Institute, as well as leading the Diagnostics Development Laboratory. His work has led to innovations including the Visitect CD4 point of care test for monitoring of CD4+ T-cells in HIV, commercialised by Omega Diagnostics, Scotland; diagnostic tests for hepatitis E virus infection, commercialised by MP Biomedical, Singapore; and a novel virus-like particle platform technology for vaccines (Metavax™), commercialised by Artes Biotechnology, Germany. He is the author of more than 80 papers and book chapters, and an inventor of 9 families of patents.

In 2013 he was awarded a grant by the Nanjing Government to establish the Burnet spinoff company, Nanjing BioPoint Diagnostic Technology Ltd, which completed an RMB 30 million investment agreement with GuoMinXinHe Group in November 2014, to progress the development and commercialisation of a novel liver disease test. He serves as CEO and Director of Nanjing BioPoint, with R&D activities in both Nanjing and at the Burnet’s laboratories in Melbourne.

He is a passionate believer in the potential of Australian biotechnology, medical research and innovation, especially in the field of global health that closely reflects the Burnet Institute’s mission.