Posted: 28 May 2025
A groundbreaking partnership between the Victorian Heart Institute at Monash University and NewAmsterdam Pharma has been recognised on the global stage, winning Clinical Partnership of the Year – Non-CRO at the 2025 Citeline Awards in Boston.
The accolade celebrates outstanding collaboration in clinical trials and was awarded for the development of obicetrapib, a next-generation cholesterol-lowering therapy. The Monash–NewAmsterdam partnership was praised for setting a new benchmark in how academic institutions and industry can co-develop rigorous, impactful research that addresses global health challenges.
The trials (BROADWAY and TANDEM) demonstrated that obicetrapib can significantly lower LDL cholesterol and lipoprotein(a) — two major risk factors for cardiovascular disease — offering new hope for millions of patients who need protection beyond standard therapies. The results were published in the New England Journal of Medicine and The Lancet.
The Phase 3 clinical program, co-developed by Monash and NewAmsterdam Pharma, was designed from the ground up through an independent, global steering committee led by Professor Stephen Nicholls, Director of the Victorian Heart Institute and Victorian Heart Hospital.
“This award is testament to what’s possible when academia and industry collaborate successfully,” said Professor Nicholls.
“We brought our scientific independence and clinical expertise, NewAmsterdam brought a clear vision and enabled the process. Together, we’ve delivered research that not only stands up to scrutiny but has the potential to change patient care worldwide.”
The Chief Operating Officer of NewAmsterdam Pharma, Douglas Kling, said, “You will find no better organisation to partner with if you are doing a global clinical trial.”
“We called up Steve [Nicholls] immediately to form the partnership and we have not looked back. We have recruited over 12,000 patients in 23 countries. They [the Monash team] have helped us identify the sites, write the protocol — they could not have done that without trust.”
The partnership empowered academic leaders to shape trial design, data analysis and publication with independence and rigour — resulting in a program heralded by both regulators and the global lipid research community.
Professor Robyn Ward AM, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research and Enterprise) and Senior Vice-President at Monash University, said that the program was part of Monash’s expertise in building the next generation of global health partnerships.
“This award highlights Monash’s excellence in guiding vital clinical trial innovation at an international scale. We have a significant history of close collaboration with health and innovation hubs in the United States and it’s wonderful to see this recognised,” she said. “Our partnership has also shown excellence in academic-industry collaboration and delivered world-class clinical research with potential to help millions of people.”
For more information, click here.
