Ab Initio Pharma Champions Innovation at NSW Drug Discovery Forum 2025

CEO, Paul Young, presents AbVance award to this years winner Dr Daryl Ariawan

Ab Initio Pharma proudly supported the NSW Drug Discovery Forum 2025 by sponsoring the prestigious AbVance Commercialisation Award—delivered in partnership with the Centre for Drug Discovery Innovation. Held at ICC Sydney alongside the ARCS Annual Conference, the forum brought together Australia's leading researchers, clinicians, and biotech innovators.

This year’s AbVance Award winner was Dr Alexandra Daryl Ariawan, a research fellow at the Dementia Research Centre, Macquarie University. Dr Ariawan impressed the judging panel with her innovative work on cyclic peptide therapeutics to treat Alzheimer’s disease, combining computational chemistry with organic synthesis to develop novel peptide-based drug candidates.

As part of the award, Dr Ariawan will receive a $20,000 services package from Ab Initio Pharma, including access to our formulation and analytical development capabilities, and preclinical support. The award is designed to accelerate the commercialisation of promising therapeutic candidates and support the translation of early-stage research into the clinic.

“Supporting pioneering researchers like Dr Ariawan aligns with our mission to empower next-generation therapies,” said Paul Young, CEO of Ab Initio Pharma. “We are excited to contribute our expertise in product development and GMP manufacturing to help bring these potential treatments closer to patients.”