George Medicines designs a ‘triple pill’ to better manage hypertension

[Image of a modern university building against a blue sky. Image moves to street level where people are walking in the distance, and to Professor Anthony Rodgers walking towards the building. He enters the revolving door of the ‘Health Translation Hub’ and walks into a foyer with people. Image changes to a glass panelled wall with the words ‘The George Institute of Global Health’]

Professor Anthony Rodgers: George Medicines is a late stage company founded to commercialise the research of the George Institute for Global Health.

[Image of the Professor talking to camera and text appears: Professor Anthony Rodgers, Chief Medical Officer, George Medicines]

And the mission is to bring affordable single pill combinations and for non-communicable diseases, conditions like high blood pressure, hypertension.

[Image changes to office environment and close-up of hands holding pen and paper then moves to Stephen Thompson talking to camera. Text appears: Stephen Thompson, Founding Partner and Managing Director of Brandon Capital]

Stephen Thompson: Brandon Capital is an Australian headquartered life science investment fund.

We’re early stage investors in emerging life science technologies coming out of Australia's universities, medical research institutes and hospitals.

[Image of graphics of Next Generation icons appear for drugs, medical devices and diagnotics]

We're investing in the next generation of drugs, medical devices and diagnostics.

[Image moves from a city skyline against blue sky with a large green park in the foreground, to office buildings at street level with people walking and crossing the street. Image returns to an office interior with a close up of Stephen Thompson speaking to camera]

Australia has always had a long reputation for outstanding medical research, and a number of things have come to market as a fruit of that research but perhaps lacking some of the capital and human expertise to bring that to market.

[Image moves from a scientist in a lab wearing a white coat and safety glasses looking into a microscope, to a close-up of hands in blue gloves operating a pipette over test tubes. Image returns to an office with Stephen speaking to camera. Graphic icons appear  showing a map of Australia, money and scales]

If you look at the impact that the Biomedical Translation Fund has had in the local ecosystem, it injected $500 million of capital, half of that from the government, half from private investors.

[Image moves to gloved hands working with a row of test tubes followed by a close-up of numerous white round pills. Image returns to Stephen walking through a lobby past a feature wall with the words  ‘The Future of Health’. Image then moves to an office where Stephen is sitting with other people around a table]

across three fund managers. That had a profound effect. It backed a generation of companies that were Australian in clinical stage development.

[Stephen talks to camera and graphic icons appear of a microscope and person with heart icon]

To see the impact of drugs that have come from being ideas in the lab to actually in patients and transforming patients’ lives is incredibly powerful.

[Image changes to Stephen walking across a foyer to meet Anthony. They shake hands. Image moves to Stephen and Anthony seated at a table and speaking. In the background, a man is working on a laptop]

Professor Anthony Rodgers: What we're hoping with the triple pill is it can play a meaningful role in helping improve hypertension care in Australia and globally.

[Image changes to a close-up of a medical professional in a white coat using a blood pressure cuff on a patient's arm. Image moves to Anthony speaking directly to camera in an office setting]

As people may know, high blood pressure is a really important public health problem. It's the leading cause of premature death in countries like Australia and globally.

[Close-up of white pills in blister packs on a production line. Image of Anthony speaking to camera. Animated pill icons appear; a single white circular pill icon, then a second and a third, before they merge into one single pill]

The triple pill is a combination of three different blood pressure lowering medicines in very low doses/dose options.

[Image of a scientist wearing a white coat, mask, and gloves working in a lab, followed by a close-up of large quantity of white, round pills spread across a metallic surface suggesting bulk production. Back to Professor Anthony Rodgers speaking to camera in an office]

And it came about from science showing that you get most of the benefits, at low doses of separate medicines, and you avoid most of the side effects of those low doses compared to higher doses. But by themselves, they're not enough. You've got to have multiple together. And so it's a way to bring it all together, to give high efficacy with acceptable tolerability and something that's easy to take.

[Image of a collaborative workspace with a man and woman looking at computer screen displaying data. A wider angle reveals another man at a nearby workstation. The image then moves to another workspace where Anthony and Stephen are talking]

The Biomedical Translation Fund was pivotal in providing enough support so that the company could go from a proof of principle with an idea basically, to a company that had an actual product manufactured, and a clinical trial program that was suitable for the FDA (Food and Drug Administration).

[Image of close up of Anthony speaking in the office setting]

And those are really enormous steps up in what's required and the amount of funding required. And it's only with the Biomedical Translation Fund that that was possible.

[Image of laptop and a close-up of a hand gesturing to a presentation of ‘The George Medicines Pipeline’. The image moves to Anthony speaking with a female colleague who is pointing to a brochure. The image changes to a close up of Anthony speaking to camera]

Brandon Capital have got a large number of investee companies in Australia and overseas. And in doing that they've generated a huge amount of practical knowledge about suitable partners, how to run regulatory trial programs, manufacturing, etc. and all of that was hugely helpful for us.

[Image of Stephen in an office talking to camera is followed by an image of a busy workspace with people at a table in discussion around a laptop. The image then cuts to a close up of Stephen and Anthony talking with the group and then goes back to Stephen talking to camera]

Stephen Thompson: I think it’s really important to invest in Australian innovation and ideas for the next generation of young Australians coming through universities to have jobs, that are going to be equipped and relevant for the future. But to see our investment in George Medicines' fund, the pivotal phase three, global trial, to see that trial be successful, and now to see that product get registered, initially in the US and now with other countries coming on board, it's very exciting.

[Image of Stephen speaking to camera]

And this wouldn't have been possible without the support of the Biomedical Translation Fund.

[End screen with blue background with the Australian Government logo prominently displayed and information about The Biomedical Translation Fund delivered by the Department of Industry, Science and Resources on behalf of the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing]