Seeding success at WEHI Ventures: Funding early-stage research with Dr Anne-Laure Puaux

In this episode of Med Tech Talks, Robert Klupacs is joined by Dr Anne-Laure Puaux, inaugural CEO of WEHI Ventures and Head of Business Development at WEHI.

WEHI Ventures manages 66ten, a first of its kind pre-seed and seed strategic investment fund of $66 million, dedicated to ideas developed by or in collaboration with, WEHI. With a grand vision of investing $66 million over 10 years in groundbreaking medical innovations, 66ten is the largest internal pre-seed and seed fund created by an Australian medical research institute, established to bridge the gap between scientific discoveries and commercial viability.

Before joining WEHI, Anne-Laure worked in Europe, US, Asia and Australia as part of biotech companies and multinational pharmaceutical companies such as GSK. Through these roles, she gained extensive global experience designing, evaluating, negotiating, and closing deals between academic research institutions, biotech companies, private investors and large multinational companies. She has also completed a PhD in Immunology and an MBA. 

In this episode you will hear about:

• How WEHI Ventures is focusing on turning early-stage discoveries into commercial successes, and its strategic management approach to high-risk, high reward projects that may be too risky or too early-stage for traditional investors
• The importance of collaboration between academia and industry in translating early-stage discoveries into market-ready therapies
• Anne-Laure’s insights into how Australia needs to strengthen its innovation ecosystem to catalyse biotech commercialisation 
• The strategic importance of mentorship when opportunities to explore different career pathways may be limited.

Learn more about WEHI Ventures
Learn about Dr Anne-Laure Puaux

Updated version 05/08/22