New facility to boost medicine development

25 Jul 2012, 2:17 pm   -   Source: AAP

Clinical trials of treatments for diabetes, arthiritis and migraines will be streamlined at a new national testing facility in Queensland.

Clinical trials of diabetes, arthritis and migraine treatments will be fast tracked and hit the market sooner with opening of a new national research facility in Brisbane.

The $8.9 million Queensland Node of Therapeutic Innovation Australia will streamline the development of new medical products.

Ferny Grove MP Dale Shuttleworth, whose stepfather died from Parkinson's disease, was among guests at the opening on Wednesday.

"That's something that's stayed with me through life," he said of his stepfather's Parkinson's battle.

He believes the new centre can provide some consolation for others who have lost loved ones.

"The opening of this sort of facility is personally important too," he said.

The facility is a collaboration between the University of Queensland and Griffith University and spread over five locations in the state.

Professor Maree Smith, who heads the facility, says for the first time Australian researchers will have a single point to test medical inventions and have them approved for commercial sale.

"It's a paradigm shift in the way we develop medicine," she said.

The federal government provided $6.9 million in funding under its Translating Health Discovery Initiative with the remainder coming from the Queensland government.

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