Considered the most lucrative Australian university research commercialisation agreement ever negotiated, the 2025 deal for exclusive rights to the University of Queensland’s virus clamp technology has huge potential for vaccine development. Pharmaceutical giant Sanofi bought the university’s spin-off company Vicebio, with the rights to the clamp technology, for US$1.15 billion (A$1.6 billion) up-front and potential on-going payments of US$450 million ($642 million).
The molecular clamp prevents the spike proteins on the surface of a virus from shape-shifting, allowing the human body to build a strong immune response, says University of Queensland molecular virologist Professor Keith Chappell.
“It’s a paper-clip that keeps the vaccine in the right shape,” he says, adding his team doesn’t use the whole virus in the production of vaccines. “We just produce the small spike proteins by themselves – the small surface part, the most relevant part of the virus.”
Winner of the Australian Financial Review’s Higher Education award in Research Commercialisation, the UQ-Sanofi molecular clamp deal began with an idea that emerged in 2011, following Chappell’s post-doc research in Madrid.
On his return to Australia, he and his University of Queensland colleagues worked on the idea and went on to win grants from the National Health and Medical Research Council and elsewhere, and finally funding from a venture capital group for further development. The virus clamp technology research was spun out into the company Vicebio, with most of the pre-clinical research based at the University of Queensland.
The Sanofi agreement provides funding for on-going research by Chappell’s team, to expand beyond the lead vaccine program targeting respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and human metapneumovirus (HMV).
RSV alone kills 100,000 children under five every year in developing countries, Chappell says. Although RSV vaccines already exist, the UQ researchers are working on a stable version in a liquid-filled syringe, making it easier and faster to administer.
This new vaccine will target multiple respiratory diseases along with RSV, including HMPV and parainfluenza. Altogether, the range of targeted viruses puts more older adults in hospital than flu does. Chappell and his team are now working on Sanofi’s priority diseases: those with the largest potential financial returns and the biggest global impact.
“They’ve really recognised the value that my team brings, and they are funding the entirety of my team to go on and keep developing this vaccine and expanding to new viruses and pushing to see what else we can do,” Chappell says.
This includes work on a vaccine for the Human T-lymphotropic virus – a retrovirus similar to HIV which disproportionately affects Indigenous Australians in Central Australia. “We have some of the highest rates of this disease in the entire world, and there’s absolutely nothing available to treat this virus or vaccinate against this virus,” Chappell says. “We’re working really hard on that as well.”
He and his team are also keeping a close eye on emerging diseases around the world, particularly those that might affect Australia, he says. “I think the huge advantage we have now is with having Sanofi behind us, it means that we can go from what we can do as a university to what can be done at he scale of a big pharmaceutical company.”
University of Wollongong spin-out Hysata, now building what is considered to be the world’s most efficient hydrogen electrolyser, comes second in the Research Commercialisation category.
In 2020, researchers at the university developed a revolutionary “capillary-fed” electrolysis cell which eliminates nearly all energy waste and substantially lowers production costs. “Electricity is the largest cost component in green hydrogen production, so improving efficiency is the most powerful lever to reduce the costs to our customers,” says Hysata Chief Executive Officer Paul Barrett.
Backed by the government and A$220 million in private capital, Hysata has negotiated partnerships with South Korean steelmaker POSCO and Saudi power utility ACWA Power.
Ranking third in the category is OCIUS Technologies, which has developed a range of low-cost, long-endurance unmanned surface vessels.
In March 2026, OCIUS negotiated a $176 million deal with the Australian government to provide a further 40 autonomous vessels, called Bluebottles, to add to the 15 already in operation – forming one of the largest USV fleets in the world. Powered by solar, wind and wave energy, these autonomous vessels can be used for scientific, military and border control purposes.
In partnership with the University of NSW since 2015, with collaborative and contract research in machine learning, autonomy and systems integration, the company also now has a university talent pipeline in internships and graduate roles.
OCIUS exemplified UNSW’s strong commitment to an “entrepreneurial campus”, with companies deeply embedded across the site, in the research labs, the schools and the faculties, says pro Vice-Chancellor Industry and Innovation Professor Stephen Rodda.
“This comes back to UNSW’s focus on employability for our graduates,” he adds. “Being able to partner and collaborate in a way where the students get access to that real application of research, its translation and adoption by a company, is unique and very powerful.”