Australian and multinational companies are being invited to play a role in a state government-supported University of Queensland initiative to keep more drug research and development dollars in this country.
The University of Queensland Vice-Chancellor, Professor John Hay, AC, today announced Expressions of Interest (EOI) would be sought for the construction and development of the $60m Pharmacy Australia Centre of Excellence (PACE) on land adjoining Brisbane’s Princess Alexandra Hospital.
PACE will bring together Australia’s leading pharmacy educators and researchers, the key pharmacy professional organisations and commercial research and development, in a smaller scale pharmaceutical version of the computer industry’s “Silicon Valley”.
The unique project will eventually cover every aspect of the pharmaceutical production line from drug discovery to eventual use, offering world class, co-ordinated and cost-effective research and testing capability.
The Queensland Government has donated the $3.35m 1.7ha site and the University will use part of the land for a new School of Pharmacy, to meet the growing demand from Australia and overseas for new pharmacy graduates and post-graduate research.
Other confirmed PACE partners and future tenants include The Pharmacy Guild of Australia, The Pharmaceutical Society of Australia, the Society of Hospital Pharmacists of Australia and the Australian Institute of Pharmacy Management.
Professor Hay said there were opportunities for new investors/partners to help finance or construct the Centre, or to take up some of the allocated 5,500 sq m of flexible commercial space - one third of the total development area - for pharmaceutical research or commercialisation and marketing activities.
“Thanks to the vision of the Queensland Government, we have an exciting opportunity to build Australia’s leading facility for pharmaceutical research, education and drug commercialisation,” he said at a ceremony on the PACE project site at inner suburban Buranda, just across the Brisbane River from UQ’s St Lucia campus.
Professor Hay said PACE would complement other university drug development activities including Australia’s first integrated pre-clinical drug trial facility, to be financed in part by an $8.1 million grant from the State Government’s Smart State Research Facilities Fund.
State Development and Innovation Minister Tony McGrady said the Government was strongly committed to the development of PACE.
“PACE is going to be a fantastic centre of learning and industry and we’re right behind it because it represents many of the hallmarks of the Smart State Strategy,” Mr McGrady said.
“This precinct will be part of our push to develop a leading edge pharmaceutical industry.
“Our emerging pharmaceutical industry has huge potential. We have a rich and largely untapped biodiversity that’s a unique resource for novel drug discovery.”
The Executive Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences, Professor Peter Brooks, said relocating the School of Pharmacy to PACE would promote closer interaction between the education sector and the pharmacy industry.
“This will create opportunities for the industry, for big and little pharma, to set up their labs or rent lab space adjacent to pharmacy academic researchers, to interact and use the expertise that’s available inside the School of Pharmacy,” he said.
“And this will also help the learning agenda of the School of Pharmacy to be more aligned with the pharmacy professions and with pharma industries.”
The Pharmacy Guild of Australia, which represents 4,500 pharmacy owners, is a partner in the PACE project and its Queensland branch will take up 1,200 sq m when construction is complete.
“The School of Pharmacy at PACE will be able to produce even more smart young Australians and PACE will keep them working and researching in Australia rather than having to go overseas,” said the Pharmacy Guild’s National President, John Bronger.
“PACE will cover all aspects of pharmacy from pure drug research to pharmaceutical practice, and even through how to handle the large numbers of emerging chronic disease states.
“One of the drivers of research will be the ageing population and how their health is going to be handled.”
Recognised as one of the leading pharmacy education institutions in the southern hemisphere, The School of Pharmacy at The University of Queensland has grown from generating $50,000 pa in research income in the mid-1990s to $3.8m in 2002.
An Economic Impact Assessment carried out by national accounting practice KPMG found that the PACE project could be expected to directly inject $96 million to the Queensland economy alone, with anticipated ongoing benefits of around $46 million per annum.
It would create more than 660 jobs during the construction phase and an estimated further 432 full-time positions when operational.
Construction work on the PACE project is due to be completed by 2009, but Professor Brooks was hopeful it could be finished as early as 2006.
For more information contact: Lorann Downer (The University of Queensland) 07 3365 1088, 0413 458 317
