[Music plays and the image shows a slide showing the Australian Government Crest, Prize for New Innovators medallion animated and turning, and the words 2021 Prize for New Innovators, and the name, Associate Professor Michael Bowen]
[Image changes to show Associate Professor Michael Bowen descending stairs inside a building]
Assoc Prof Michael Bowen: My name is Michael Bowen. I'm an Associate Professor at the University of Sydney and I'm the co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer of Kinoxis Therapeutics.
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Over the past decade, a major focus of my research has been on discovering and developing novel therapeutics for substance use disorders.
[Images move through of blue liquid in a sample bottle on a machine, Michael and colleagues at work, Michael talking to the camera, and Michael and colleagues in the lab]
In the past few years, my team have been particularly focused on opioid use disorder.
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Opioids are drugs that are widely used in the medical management of pain, but they can also be highly addictive and very dangerous.
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In fact opioid overdoses kill more people in Australia each year than car accidents.
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We discovered a novel compound called KNX100 that has powerful anti-addictive properties.
[Images move through to show a close view of Michael talking, a profile view of Michael talking, Michael and colleagues looking at a computer screen together, and a close view of the screen]
To commercialize KNX100, Kinoxis Therapeutics was founded and in a major partnership between the company, the US National Institutes of Health and my team at the Brain and Mind Centre, we discovered that KNX100 has considerable potential to treat opioid use disorder.
[Images move through to show Michael and colleagues looking at a computer, Michael watching colleagues working in a lab, and Michael in conversation with a colleague in the lab]
We've been working on KNX100 for a number of years and it was becoming increasingly apparent the more studies we ran, that we were onto something pretty special.
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We were able to attract Uniseed to come on board as our cornerstone investor, along with a consortium of some of Australia's most notable investors. Kinoxis Therapeutics was born and to date our investors have supported us to the tune of over $10 million.
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The next year is going to be huge for Kinoxis.
[Images move through to show Michael looking through the microscope, Michael talking to the camera, Michael and a colleague working in a lab, and Michael looking at blue liquid in a flask]
In the opioid use disorder space the countdown is on to the first clinical trial with KNX100, which will make it the only novel compound in clinical development for opioid use disorder anywhere in the world.
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It's an honour to be the recipient of the 2021 Prize for New Innovators. It makes me really proud of everything that the team at the university, and Kinoxis Therapeutics has achieved over the years, but it's also really important recognition that this model of universities, industry and governments working closely together is a powerful way to find solutions to wicked problems like the opioid crisis.
[Image changes to show a new slide showing the Australian Government Crest, Prize for New Innovators medallion animated and turning, and the words 2021 Prize for New Innovators, and the name, Associate Professor Michael Bowen]
