Notable people in the Life Sciences sector in Australia and New Zealand

By Stuart Roberts, Senior Analyst, stuart@ndfresearch.com, +61 447 247 909 (August 2016)

The annual Bioshares meeting, held every July in Queenstown, New Zealand, is generally regarded as the preeminent Life Sciences investment conference on this side of the Pacific. A personal highlight for me at Bioshares is the traditional 'Peasants' Dinner', which is one of the events that open the meeting. The Peasants' Dinner is for all of us who aren't CEOs of biotech companies (plus a few who are). It's always a great night given that the venue is Gantleys, one of the best restaurants in a town renowned for its fine dining establishments. Peasants' gives our industry a chance to acknowledge some of its quiet (and sometimes not-so-quiet) achievers through the Red Hat Awards, which represents significant contributions to the growth of the sector by the rank and file. Here are some of the recent winners of Red Hats:

Martin Ashdown

Research Fellow, Faculty of Medicine, University of Melbourne
Cage Rattler of the Year, 2015

Every industry needs a cage rattler to help keep people's thinking fresh. Martin Ashdown has spent the last 15 years or so telling everyone who would listen that successful treatment of cancer has a lot to do with accurate timing of chemotherapy and immunotherapies to match fluctuations in each patient’s immune system. If Martin is right, a lot of oncology drugs that make a lot of money for their owners are in fact worthless. The Mayo Clinic are further developing Martin’s ideas on the ‘Immune Synchronization’ of therapy.

Rob Birrell

Former CEO, Genetic Signatures
Best New Peasant, 2016

Rob Birrell worked with one of the founding fathers of biotech in Australia, the late Dr Geoff Grigg, to build Genetic Signatures (ASX: GSS) over many years. Rob's 2016 Red Hat award recognises his dogged and imaginative persistence with the Genetic Signatures project through thick and thin. It is home-grown entrepreneurs like Rob who have helped make Australia a great place to build Life Science companies.

Paris Brooke

Director, BT Novo
Hall of Fame, 2015

One of Paris' clients puts it like this: 'Paris is an excellent communications consultant who can make a real difference to any organisation's communications and stakeholder management program. A natural communicator who articulates a clear and easily understandable message'. If we had more Parises in our sector the average market capitaliation would be a lot higher. Paris' 2015 Red Hat honoured her tireless work in getting the Bioshares meeting to happen every year.

Eddie Grieve

Manager, Listings Business Development, Australian Securities Exchange
Hall of Fame, 2016

Without the ASX we wouldn't have a Life Sciences sector in Australia and New Zealand, and the sector therefore owes a big debt of gratitude to Eddie Grieve, who has taken a strong personal interest in the fortunes of the sector. The fact that ASX is such a bio-friendly Exchange is in part due to the efforts of Eddie and his colleagues to market the Exchange to the Life Science community both in Australia and around the world.

Kilian Kelly

Vice President, Product Development, Cynata
Best Re-Rating, 2015

In February 2015 the regenerative medicine company Cynata (ASX: CYP) announced that it had successfully validated its stem cell manufacturing process, prompting a strong increase in the share price. They couldn't have done it without Irishman Kilian Kelly, a veteran of Amgen and AstraZeneca before his arrival Down Under. Kilian is emblematic of the sort of talent we're attracting to our sector from other parts of the world.

Brian Leedman

Vice President, Corporate Affairs, Resapp Health
Best Re-Rating, 2016

ResApp (ASX: RAP) was 2.6 cents per share at the time of Bioshares 2015. It was 40 cents by the time Bioshares 2016 rolled around. Brian's 2016 Red Hat acknowledged this achievement but also honoured his passionate efforts over many years to promote the Life Sciences sector in Western Australia.

Amos Meltzer

Former CEO, Immuron
Best New Peasant, 2015

As CEO of Immuron (ASX: IMC) Amos Meltzer did an outstanding job preparing his company to benefit from the strong commercial interest in new treatments for Non-Alcoholic Steatohepatitis or NASH. He continues to serve the Australian Life Sciences sector as a lawyer and adviser on capital raisings for new companies.

Daniel Moore

Director, Armada Capital
Financier of the Year, 2016

Daniel, a well-known 'rainmaker' in Australia's capital markets, worked for the best part of two years to get Race Oncology (ASX: RAC) on the ASX as a public company. His Red Hat Award in 2016 recognised the successful outcome of that journey. Before he went out on his own Daniel was a strong contributor to the health of the Life Sciences sector through his work in the Corporate Department at stockbroker Wilson HTM.