Brisbane startup Infensa spins medical miracle from spider venom

A Brisbane-based medtech startup is using spider venom from one of the world’s deadliest spiders to treat two of the leading causes of death both in Australia and worldwide — with a global death toll of over 18 million annually.

Infensa Bioscience, which was founded by professor Glenn King, Ananth Siva, professor Bob Graham, Dr Nathan Palpant and Mark Smythe in 2021, raised $23 million in 2022 to fund its next stage of expansion and is now well into the pre-clinical trial phase.

Infensa uses molecules found in the venom of the Australian funnel-web spider from K’gari/Fraser Island in Queensland to treat both heart attacks and strokes by blocking the nerve signals that cause the death of heart and brain cells following these medical events. 

According to The University of Queensland Institute for Molecular Bioscience, the funnel-web spider has been isolated on Fraser Island for about 20,000 years and its venom has developed differently from other funnel-webs.

The funnel-web’s venom is one of the most lethal spider venoms in the world and has been recorded as six times more powerful than that of the Sydney funnel-web spider.

Co-founder of Infensa, professor Glenn King, who is also a professorial research fellow in UQ’s Institute for Molecular Bioscience and has spent the past 30 years studying the venoms of spiders and other animals, spoke with SmartCompany about solving an unmet medical need.

“Heart attack and stroke are the biggest killers in the world – together they account for about 30% of deaths worldwide every year,” he says. 

“Despite this massive disease burden, we do not have a single drug to protect the heart or brain after these events.

“We discovered a peptide in the venom of the K’gari funnel-web spider that protects the brain after stroke, protects the heart after a heart attack, and helps to preserve the integrity of donor hearts destined for transplantation.

“In order to translate these exciting discoveries for the benefit of patients, we founded an Australian biotech company to develop the drug for human clinical trials.”

An Australian biotech, funded by Australians to help Australians

Infensa is in the pre-clinical trial phase, which involves optimising and manufacturing the medicines and their dosages, as well as demonstrating the safety of using them, in a barrage of tests in small and large animals as mandated by regulatory agencies such as the Therapeutics Goods Administration (Australia) and the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Currently, Infensa has a small and flexible workforce of 10 employees, with professor King stating that it is more cost-effective for small biotech companies to outsource in vivo animal studies to FDA-compliant contract research organisations (CROs) as it saves on laboratory space and personnel.

“Our aim was to build an Australian-based biotech company funded by Australian investors maximise benefits for all Australians,” he says. 

“The initial $23 million capital raise was obtained from Australian private investors, and the company is based at the Translational Research Institute in Brisbane.

“This capital was designed to fund optimisation of our lead drug candidate, efficacy studies of heart attacks in small and large animals, preclinical safety studies mandated by the regulatory agencies, drug manufacture (CMC), and early-stage human clinical trials.”

The startup is part of the Brisbane Economic Development Agency’s MedTech Global Accelerator program, which supports early-stage ventures that are actively seeking global partners for capital, product collaboration and distribution deals, as well as equipping participants with the knowledge and understanding to successfully seek investor funding.

BEDA offers access to a range of initiatives, which include training opportunities as well as access to partnerships, talent, and capital, all of which are focused on facilitating Infensa’s future growth.