Western Australia – Like No Other
Western Australia is fast becoming a global hub for health and medical life sciences with our proximity to the growing Asian market and strong health leadership.
Our biomedical industry is rapidly growing. Since 2017, the sector has more than doubled, growing to over 250 biomedical organisations and support services. With five universities, six tertiary hospitals and 21 medical research institutes and foundations, Western Australia has a vibrant and collaborative industry that has already delivered significant results.
Western Australia biomedical capabilities
Two esteemed Nobel laureates in medicine have come from Western Australia, Professor Barry Marshall and Emeritus Professor Robin Warren, and seven FDA approved drugs have come from Western Australian university research. A range of exciting startups are building on this pedigree and progressing Phase 1, 2 and 3 trials for promising new therapies.
With specialisations in areas such as personalised medicine, advanced RNA therapies, paediatric health, rare diseases, regenerative medicine, clinical trials and established CDMOs and CROs, we have excellent capacity to take your therapeutic projects from discovery through to Phase 1 trials and beyond.
We also have a thriving medtech sector with a range of innovative precision diagnostics and therapeutics and digital health products coming to market. Our medtech sector is supported by specialist manufacturing expertise, underpinned by our State’s experience in delivering remote and autonomous solutions across our vast territory.
Funding and support
The Western Australian Government is committed to the State’s burgeoning life sciences sector. In June 2020, we initiated our State’s most ambitious endeavour to support growth in this industry, by creating the Future Health Research and Innovation (FHRI) Fund, a sovereign wealth fund which is now valued at around $1.8 billion.
The FHRI Fund provides a secure source of funding to drive health and medical research, innovation and commercialisation, and through these activities, improve the health and prosperity of all Western Australians. Since the FHRI Fund started in 2020, $251 million has been awarded to 745 grant recipients. In 2024/25 the FHRI Fund has awarded $76 million to 145 recipients.
To complement the FHRI Fund, in October 2021, we launched the State’s first-ever Health and Medical Life Sciences Industry Strategy.
The sector is further supported by the WA Life Sciences Innovation Hub, which was set up as a collaboration between the Western Australian Government, MTPConnect and The University of Western Australia, to help accelerate new and growing biotech businesses.
Our office in Austin, Texas, is your one-stop shop for connecting to the Western Australian biomedical sector. Western Australian Investment and Trade Commissioner Brianna Peake and her team will be delighted to facilitate your introduction to our outstanding health and medical innovators and researchers.
Come and say G’day to WA at the Team Australia pavilion and hear more about our sun, sand and quokkas.
For more information
Health and medical life sciences (investandtrade.wa.gov.au)
Health and medical life sciences industry: prospectus (www.wa.gov.au)
