This Rotary initiative has grown to become the largest private funder of child healthcare research in New Zealand, and has invested over $38.5 million to further their vision of a healthy childhood for everyone, and focuses on raising funds to enable high-impact medical research to find the cures kids need. The breadth of their work supported is wide; some of the projects funded, or are currently funding, include childhood cancers, inherited heart conditions, cystic fibrosis, sudden unexpected death in infants (SUDI), stillbirth, burns, and child and adolescent mental health, among many others.

 

Frances joined Cure Kids in December 2015 after a very successful career in the pharmaceutical industry spanning 26 years with leading roles in management, sales, marketing and brand management within Pfizer, Roche and Eli Lilly Pharmaceuticals.

 

Cure Kids Ventures Ltd. is the venture capital arm of Cure Kids. The firm only seeks investments in privately owned businesses with majority of assets and employees in New Zealand. It primarily invests in research, seed, early stage, and expansion ventures with products capable of improving child health outcomes. The firm considers investments in biotechnology, healthcare delivery, medical devices, therapeutic medicines, nutraceuticals, and software products. The firm typically invests between $200,000 and $500,000 into one portfolio company and seeks to exit its investments within five to six years. A principal focus is the ethical investment of donations, the returns on which further support the lead charitable work of Cure Kids. Investing since 2008, CKV now has a portfolio of 14 investee companies at different stages of development. This maturing portfolio produced an unrealised return on investment of 27%for the 2015 year.

Tim Edmonds shared some exciting new developments driven by Cure Kids research funding initiated in 2012 in burn treatment innovation. Over 500 kids are hospitalised in New Zealand each year for burns and the current plastic surgery required to repair the damage required many years of painful plastic surgery over many years.  The new research suggests artificially full thickness skin can be grown from a 3 sq cm sample with enough skin growth in 2 weeks to cover the body.  This research is now seeking commercial partners to take it through clinical trials and would have a major international impact on how skin grafts are done in the future.

 

Tim also expanded on the Cure Kids programme in Fiji to deliver solar powered oxygenators to medical facilities throughout Fiji to replace unreliable and expensive oxygen cylinders. In doing so it is anticipated survival rates for kids suffering from pneumonia can be increased by 35%. Cure Kids has funded the first units in Nasori and with 15 additional units needed to achieve Fiji wide coverage is working with Rotary NZ to raise the $775,000 required.