Multi-million-pound impact investment in George Institute businesses to fast-track new treatments for the world’s biggest killers

• UK-based George Health will receive £27 million from three major investment partners to develop drug treatments and technologies for world’s biggest killers
• George Health is built on 20 years of high-impact medical research by The George Institute for Global Health

London, United Kingdom, Tuesday 10 March - George Health, a profit-for-purpose company, today announces £27 million / $35 million of new financing to accelerate the commercialisation of affordable drug treatments and technologies for some of the world’s biggest killers. This funding round was led by Bupa Australia, Federation Asset Management and the Australian Government-backed Medical Research Commercialisation Fund Biomedical Translation Fund (MRCF BTF), managed by Brandon Capital Partners.

The investments are set to fast-track the growth of George Health Enterprises, the commercial arm of the world-leading George Institute for Global Health, and George Medicines, its late-stage drug development company.

George Health Enterprises will receive almost £17 million from Federation Asset Management and Bupa Australia to accelerate the development of an innovative drug and technology pipeline, born from The George Institute’s research program, including a unique, low-cost digital technology to guide clinical decision making for patients with multiple chronic diseases, and an ultra-low-cost dialysis system for patients with end-stage kidney failure.

George Medicines will receive just over £10 million from the Australian Government-backed Medical Research Commercialisation Fund Biomedical Translation Fund (MRCF BTF), matched by George Health Enterprises, that will see a £20 million financial boost to bring to market a near-registration medicine for the prevention of recurrent heart attacks, a late-stage drug treatment for high blood pressure, and an innovative treatment for Type 2 diabetes.

According to the British Heart Foundation, there are around 7.4 million people living with heart and circulatory disease in the UK and they cause more than a quarter of all deaths – an average of one every three minutes. The total annual healthcare cost is estimated to be £9 billion. More than 3.9 million adults in the UK have been diagnosed with diabetes and one third of these will die from a heart or circulatory disease.

Staph Leavenworth Bakali, Chief Executive Officer and President of George Health said: “We are delighted to have such a strong group of investors supporting George Health. The company was established with a vision to expedite solutions to help tackle the leading causes of death in the UK and worldwide. This transformative investment allows us to turn this vision into a reality and accelerate the growth of our business while bringing benefit to millions of people suffering from serious chronic conditions.”

Stephen MacMahon, Professor of Medicine at the University Oxford and Principal Director of The George Institute said: “This investment is very good news not only for George Health but, more importantly, for the hundreds of millions of patients suffering those chronic diseases that still cause most premature deaths worldwide. Mainstream pharmaceutical and medical technology companies are increasingly focussed on rare diseases, so George Health is filling a major emerging gap.”  

“George Medicines has a real and tantalising potential to revolutionise the ease of use, accessibility and affordability of medicines for cardiovascular and metabolic disease, in both the developed and developing worlds,” says Dr Ingmar Wahlqvist, Director at George Medicines and Senior Investment Manager at Brandon Capital.

George Health

Formed in 2014, George Health Enterprises (or George Health) is the commercial arm of The George Institute for Global Health. George Health (GH) is a for-profit fully-integrated global health care company committed to providing high-quality, affordable health products and services at scale. GH has exclusive commercial rights to all intellectual property of The George Institute, as well as access to expertise and support from its leading global scientists. The focus of George Health is on late stage clinical development of medicines and technologies for the most common serious chronic conditions. GH has four established health impact-driven businesses – George Clinical, Ellen Medical Devices, George Health Technologies and George Medicines.

George Medicines

George Medicines is an innovative late-stage drug development company focused on the large, expanding and underserved market for the management of non-communicable diseases (NCDs). George Medicines is developing treatments designed to provide improved clinical outcomes among patients with cardiometabolic diseases such as heart disease, hypertension, and diabetes, which remain the leading causes of premature death and disability worldwide. By combining established drugs in innovative fixed-dose formulations, George Medicines is creating treatments that are more efficacious, safer and affordable than the current alternatives. 

The George Institute

The George Institute for Global Health is an independent medical research institute aiming to improve the health of millions of people worldwide by generating effective, evidence-based and affordable solutions to the world’s biggest health challenges. Headquartered in Sydney, with major centres in China, India and the UK, it has projects in more than 50 countries and affiliations with world-class universities. The George Institute UK was established in 2010 in partnership with the University of Oxford.