Our impact areas
We want to improve the health and wellbeing of our world through research and intellectual property that impacts on economic, environmental, health and societal goals.
- Cancer
- Infectious diseases
- Vaccines
- Rare disorders
- Environment
- Sugars for health
- Agrichemicals
- Applied chemistry
Cancer
Our research is looking for new treatments of cancer including the discovery of drugs that target enzymes critical to the process of cancer cell development and/or proliferation, and training our own immune systems to recognise and eliminate cancer cells; known as cancer immunotherapy.
Lymphoma is a cancer of the lymphatic system and affects a type of white blood cells known as lymphocytes. Lymphocytes help fight disease in the body and play an important role in the immune system. Given lymphoma is present in the bloodstream, it can quickly spread (or metastasise) to different parts of the body.
We, together with our partners at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Biocryst Pharmaceuticals and Mundipharma have developed a drug, Mundesine®, that is now being used to treat patients with a specific type of non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
Team Lamiable-Oulaidi, Team Painter
Infectious diseases
Our approach to infectious diseases is multi-faceted with research into new vaccines, antivirals and antibacterials.
Over decades we have developed substantial experience in synthesising unnatural forms of nucleosides, the building blocks of life. These compounds have proven potential as antiviral agents. Galidesivir (BCX4430 or immucillin-A), was made by Ferrier chemists as part of our collaboration with Albert Einstein College of Medicine. It was initially tested as an anticancer agent but has also been through human clinical trials for its antiviral properties. This compound was the first small molecule drug to protect against filoviruses in an animal model. Its activity against Ebola and dengue-2 virus is particularly important.
Team Harris Team Lamiable-Oulaidi Team Painter Team Parker
Scientific breakthrough harnesses mRNA technology to develop powerful malaria vaccine
$9 million in funding for Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington to improve health and wellbeing outcomes
Vaccines
Through our collaborations with the Malaghan Institute of Medical Research and the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity and our partners, the Breast Foundation New Zealand we have been developing vaccines for cancer and infectious diseases. These projects exploit our vaccine adjuvant technology and our RNA platform.
Scientific breakthrough harnesses mRNA technology to develop powerful malaria vaccine
Rare disorders
There are more than 7,000 different types of rare disorders, with more being discovered each day and there are ~300 million people living with a rare disorder worldwide. 72% of rare disorders are genetic in origin and thus are present throughout a person's life even if the symptoms do not immediately appear and approximately 50% of the people affected are children. 95% of rare disorders have no approved drug treatments.
The complexity of the chemistry often needed to combat rare disorders, the scale of production required for global treatment or diagnosis and the fact that lysosomal storage disorders require carbohydrate chemistry make rare disorders a good fit for us. We are doing research into Krabbe’s disease, Huntingtin’s disease, and have developed reagents for Morguio A syndrome (MPS IVA) diagnosis and have done commercial research contracts for several rare disease companies.
Team Lamiable-Oulaidi Team Rendle
Environment
Polymers such as plastic and resin are widely used in industry and have traditionally been made from petrochemicals. As awareness of the health and environmental harm of petrochemicals and the extraction industry has increased, there has been a push back against these materials. However, few alternatives are available, and many industries rely on them. To address this gap, our researchers are working alongside industry partners to develop new renewable polymers with a focus on carbohydrates such as cellulose.
In addition to being better for the environment and our health, these new materials can have enhanced properties and enable companies to claim novelty in their use and develop new products and markets.
Sugars for health
We look at oligo- and poly-saccharides from plants, including seaweed and investigate their use in foods and prebiotics.
Agrichemicals
While a lot of our research has been in the pharmaceutical space, we have also being using our skills to tackled chemical needs in agriculture, including veterinary.
News article: Breaking the mould
Applied chemistry
There are many industry problems that can be solved, or opportunities realised by an in-depth knowledge of chemistry. We are a solutions focused, applied research institute and regularly are able to use our knowledge, analytical, synthesis and formulation skills to help others.