The challenge
Tackling one of childhood’s most common health problems — recurrent middle ear infections
The dreaded middle ear infection impacts around 80 per cent of children before they’ve reached their second birthday. One in four will suffer repeat infections. For Aboriginal children the number increases to one in two.
This common health challenge in young children is a leading cause of doctor visits and antibiotic prescriptions. It can result in the need for surgery, and in some cases, hearing loss. Ear infections are not only expensive – costing Australia around $500M per year (in the US it’s an estimated $5B), but they can also impede a child’s ability to hear and learn, causing further impacts down the track. The high use of antibiotics to treat ear infections, often unsuccessfully, is also contributing to the alarming rise in antimicrobial resistance.
Our response
A revolutionary probiotic nasal spray is turning the fight against ear infections into a safe, antibiotic-free solution.
Fortunately, researchers at the Wesfarmers Centre for Vaccines and Infectious Diseases, based at The Kids Research Institute Australia, have found a solution that is both simple and non-invasive.
Microbiologist, Associate Professor Lea-Ann Kirkham, and Paediatric Immunologist and Paediatrician, Professor Peter Richmond, have dedicated their careers to researching the development of bacterial respiratory infections and exploring ways to reduce them. In 2010, while investigating bacteria in relation to ear infections, the duo determined that a “friendly bacteria” commonly found in the noses of healthy children, was rarely found in the noses of children suffering ear infections. This revolutionary discovery set the team on a journey to create a probiotic solution to fight off the harmful bacteria that cause ear infections.
The result is Spritz-OM, a preventative nasal spray with the potential to prevent hundreds of millions of ear infections around the world each year and save billions of dollars in healthcare costs.
As with all great science discoveries however, getting this innovation out of the lab and into the world, was going to prove challenging for a team of respiratory experts with little experience in the world of entrepreneurs and commercialisation. What they needed was practical support to navigate the various avenues for research translation and help them turn their discovery into a scalable technology.
The results
Deep diving into commercialisation
A transformative start
This opportunity came through ON Accelerate, CSIRO’s flagship program that helps turn publicly funded science and technology into validated, investor-ready ventures. It’s designed for researchers who want to build the skills, networks and mindset needed to fast-track promising breakthroughs into real-world impact.
Lea-Ann applied for ON Accelerate because it was the only national program she knew that offered a true deep dive into commercialisation for academics. As a researcher, Lea-Ann understood that science alone wouldn’t be enough to turn her therapy to prevent ear infections into reality - there were so many unknowns.
Lea-Ann said even the process of forming a team for the ON application and attending the Bootcamp was transformative.
“Instead of simply signing up my research team, I reached out to collaborators with diverse expertise. That decision changed everything. Throughout the program, the value of different perspectives and experiences became clear - diverse thinking lifted our team’s performance to a whole new level,” Lea-Ann said.
“ON Accelerate exposed us to every aspect of commercialisation, many of which are overlooked in academia and simply not taught to researchers. We knew we needed more, and this program delivered. The connections we made have been priceless, and being surrounded by entrepreneurial minds with a can-do attitude was inspiring”.
As a result of participating in ON Accelerate, Lea-Ann says her team is stronger, and their product-market fit is far better defined.
“Taking part in ON Accelerate has been an exceptional experience, one that has set us on the path to real-world impact with Spritz-OM”.
Pressure-testing the vision
Lea-Ann said the ON Accelerate program had a profound impact on the Spritz-OM team, and the technology.
“It pressure-tested everything — our ideas, our assumptions, and even how we worked together. As a result, our networks are now broader and more diverse than we ever imagined”.
Personally, the biggest shift for Lea-Ann was realising that she just needed the right tools and guidance. The commercialisation space is very different to academia. Programs like ON Accelerate gave Lea-Ann and her team the vocabulary, confidence, and know-how to engage with experts across every domain—IP, regulatory pathways, manufacturing, target product profiles, communication strategies, and business development. Lea-Ann said that knowledge was game-changing.
“The mentorship and coaching I received during ON Accelerate was exceptional, and today I feel equipped to make meaningful contributions to the Australian biotech ecosystem. ON Accelerate also made us pitch-perfect. It’s a rigorous process, but by leaning in and embracing every piece of advice, we emerged sharper, more focused, and ready for the next stage of our journey”.
A major step forward
With the support of ON Accelerate, Spritz-OM has now reached the advanced preclinical commercialisation stage, having recently secured significant milestone-based funding from Brandon Capital’s BioCatalyst CUREator BioTech Incubator, the Stan Perron Charitable Trust, and the Western Australian government’s Future Health Research Innovation Fund.
“This is an incredibly exciting time for Spritz-OM. We’ve just secured over $10 million in non-dilutive funding to progress through Phase 1 clinical trials and have patents granted in both the USA and Australia—a major milestone that marks a significant inflection point for our technology,” Lea-Ann said.
The team has also received approval from their research institute to spin out a company dedicated to accelerating Spritz-OM’s development, ensuring that children can benefit from this innovation as soon as possible.
“While this feels like the beginning of our commercialisation journey, it has taken immense effort to reach this stage—and CSIRO’s ON Accelerate program was absolutely the catalyst that helped us get here”.
Lea-Ann’s advice to anyone embarking on a commercialisation journey of their own, is to carefully consider both the time commitment and the people you bring along on your journey.
“ON Accelerate is a significant investment—from CSIRO and from participating teams—so you need to be fully committed. It’s challenging, but the rewards are immense.
“If you’re fortunate enough to secure a place, lean in completely. Adopt a growth mindset, embrace the highs and lows, and trust the process. It will stretch you, but you’ll emerge stronger and more capable than when you started. The experience is transformative—make the most of it!