Melbourne researchers at the Centre for Eye Research Australia are developing EDITRA, a treatment for Usher syndrome type 2A that targets RNA, allowing it to fit inside a single modified virus for ocular delivery.

Experts warn that without increased state and federal funding and local manufacturing capacity, biotech could lose international competitiveness, with modelling suggesting up to 10 of 14 independent medical research institutes in Victoria could face closure by 2030.

The Melbourne Assembly civic forum (October 19–21) is highlighted as a venue where funding discussions and big ideas for Melbourne’s research sector are being addressed.

A separate Melbourne project, Fluent, aims to translate brain signals into speech for people with severe communication impairments, with a planned 2030 launch and noted regulatory and market challenges for medical devices in Australia.

Melbourne is portrayed as a major biotech hub with a dense cluster of institutes, universities, industry, and startups, contributing over $600 million annually to Victoria’s economy and employing more than 7,500 people.

The Victorian government has increased indirect research funding by $24.6 million over two years, with more than $47.7 million in the previous year, described as the largest such funding in Australia, though funding concerns remain.

EDITRA is being developed through Adara Bio, a spin-out, with potential clinical trials within three years as it aims to correct the genetic instructions causing Usher syndrome.

Usher syndrome is the leading cause of deafblindness in Australia, affecting about 1 in 6,000 children, with hearing loss at birth followed by progressive vision loss.

Researchers are using miniature eye models to test EDITRA, with hopes for human trials within three years, and the approach could apply to other inherited retinal diseases, including genetic forms of macular degeneration.