Grant lifts Dimerix R&D

Local development company Dimerix Bioscience has received $200,000 from the Federal Government’s Commercial Ready program to support its research and development activities. 

The company will use the grant to commercialise technology developed at the Western Australian Institute for Medical Research (WAIMR) and the University of Western Australia.

Dimerix Bioscience CEO Matt Callahan said the grant represented a significant degree of support for the company’s efforts to develop its new technology.

“The grant will be used to support the research and the commercialisation paths to be used for the resulting drug,” he said.

The company is now proceeding with a capital raising to provide further finance for its activities.

Dimerix was launched in March this year with listed Melbourne-based nano-medicine company Starpharma Holdings taking 30 per cent equity ownership.

Perth-based QPSX, which specialises in the commerciali-sation of new technologies and of which Mr Callahan is general manager, currently owns 2 per cent.

In other R&D grant news, Visiomed Group Ltd has received two $20,000 grants from the State Government’s Business Development and Skills Training Scheme.

InfaMed Ltd – a wholly owned subsidiary of Visiomed Group – received the first grant for its Funhaler asthma device to enhance development of improved assembly and design simplification methods.

The second $20,000 grant was awarded to Visiomed’s R&D project MicroEYE – an opthalmic imaging system used by medical practitioners and eye-care specialists – to assist in training, application and development of the project.

Two WA companies received federal funding through the Commercial Ready, Commer-cialising Emerging Technologies program.

Environmental Separation Technologies received $52,000 to assist in marketing technology of centrifugal separation – the separation of particles of a very fine nature through reducing turbulence in the process.

Dr Harrie Hofstede received $5,000 to assist in the marketing of the FABCOM Hybrid Composting System – a method of treating large volumes of organic waste to produce a nutrient rich fertiliser which is both cost effective and odourless.