ANDHealth, Australia’s leading digital health commercialisation organisation, today opened applications for its flagship program, ANDHealth+, after receiving a $19.75M funding injection from the Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF).

The highly regarded ANDHealth+ program will be augmented by a dedicated fund, the ANDHealth Digital Health Accelerator Fund (ADHAF), which will ensure investments made under the program will drive maximum impact and growth in selected small to medium enterprises (SMEs).

Applications for the program will be competitive, with ANDHealth CEO & Managing Director, Bronwyn Le Grice commenting, “The median capital raised by digital health companies in Australia is $250,000, and this program will offer companies up to$1 million in funding, alongside dedicated industry experts and supporting services. This is the single largest program to be made available to Australia’s evidence-based, clinically validated digital health companies to date and we expect there to be very high numbers of applications.”

Over the next four years, up to 25 high-growth-potential SMEs will be supported through ANDHealth+ and the ADHAF to de-risk their technologies from the point of view of institutional investors and global enterprise customers, accelerating their commercialisation and driving growth across key clinical, commercial and economic metrics.  

Federal Minister for Health and Aged Care, Greg Hunt, congratulated ANDHealth for its role ingrowing Australia’s nascent digital health industry. “The funding provided to ANDHealth through the Medical Research Future Fund’s Medical Research Commercialisation initiative is a significant step towards Australia creating a globally competitive digital health industry, underpinning better health outcomes and significant export opportunities for Australians,” Minister Hunt said. “Australia’s digital health sector has massive potential to both revolutionise the health system and become a major force in Australia’s future economic growth.”

The ANDHealth+ program is one of the most successful commercialisation acceleration programs in Australia, with the 10 companies selected in the pilot program raising over $70million in funding, creating 296 jobs, undertaking 44 clinical studies and impacting over 200,000 patients in just four years.  

Le Grice commented, “ANDHealth is grateful to the Australian Government for their recognition of the impact of our program and its potential to change the Australian health and medical research and innovation landscape. ANDHealth+ will bring cutting edge digital health technologies to life, supporting companies whose technologies treat, diagnose, cure, mitigate and/or prevent disease or other conditions using technology. By supporting these companies to commercialise, we can create globally scalable businesses, headquartered in Australia, improving patient lives around the world.”

ANDHealth+ will be offered annually over the next four years on a competitive basis to SMEs who meet the specified eligibility and selection criteria.  It is the first of four programs funded under the Medical Research Future Fund Early Stage Translation and Commercialisation Support program to open for applications, after the successful recipients were announced by the Minister for Health on August 20, 2021.

To find out more about the ANDHealth+ program and to apply, visit https://www.andhealth.com.au/our-programs/andhealthplus

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