Melbourne, Australia — 9 February 2026
Ternarx Pty Ltd, an Australian biotechnology company pioneering novel therapies for undrugged disease targets, has secured a significant investment from US and local investors, Curie.Bio and WEHI Ventures. The capital will support the creation of a US-based spin-out company, Ternarx Bio, Inc., to advance Ternarx’s lead program in prostate cancer.
Ternarx was founded in 2024 by WEHI with funding from the Medical Research Future Fund’s Frontier Health and Medical Research initiative. A total of $15 million in funding was awarded to experts from WEHI, Children’s Cancer Institute and Monash University to establish the Australian Centre for Targeted Therapeutics (ACTT). Ternarx was created to commercialise the ACTT technology with a mission to develop targeted protein degrader therapies and technology, a powerful new tool for destroying disease-causing proteins that cannot be targeted by conventional drugs.
Investment supports technology acceleration and strategic growth
The investment recognises Ternarx’s strength and approach to developing therapeutics against previously undrugged disease targets using cutting-edge modalities, in this case, taking a targeted protein degradation approach to a previously undrugged transcription factor that drives prostate cancer in a significant proportion of patients. Attracting early investment and spinning out this asset will accelerate value-creating milestones and ultimately, benefit to patients.
“This investment is a pivotal step in Ternarx’s growth and validation of our approach and team’s talent and expertise,” said Dr Joanne Boag, Ternarx CEO. “Further, this strategy enables us to accelerate the development of our prostate cancer program, while in parallel redeploying funding to advance our other pipeline programs and platform technologies.”
Dr Chris Burns, Chair of Ternarx’s Board, said: “This investment demonstrates the capabilities of the Ternarx team and the commercial potential of Ternarx’s technology. Most importantly it propels the discovery and development of a new approach for the treatment of prostate cancer.”
Partnership and future direction
Ternarx Bio, Inc. will use the investment to progress the development of a prostate cancer therapeutic against an undrugged transcription factor through pre-clinical development. Curie.Bio’s team of drug hunters and drug makers with targeted protein degrader expertise will optimally position the program to achieve key value-creating milestones rapidly.
About Ternarx Pty Ltd
Ternarx is a pre-clinical therapeutics company building a discovery engine and differentiated pipeline of targeted protein degrader drugs in cancer and immunology. Our platform technology aims to develop the next generation of protein degrader drugs by rationally selecting and optimising E3 warhead development. Ternarx is a spin out company from WEHI (Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research) and is based in Melbourne, Australia. Find out more at www.ternarx.com.
About Curie.Bio
Curie.Bio is a $1.25B global venture capital firm that helps founders discover and develop important new medicines. The firm partners with founders by investing in existing companies, creating focused spinouts, and building companies from scratch. Curie.Bio’s model uniquely combines capital with hands-on drug development, operating as both a drug discovery copilot and an investor.
Its 100+ person team of experienced drug hunters, drug makers, and operators works closely with founders on a day-to-day basis to improve decision-making and increase the probability of success. Curie.Bio helps founders avoid critical early mistakes and ensures they have the right scientific plan, data package, and narrative to maximize long-term value creation. Curie.Bio invests across the lifecycle of therapeutic development, from preclinical discovery through clinical proof-of-concept.
Find out more at curie.bio.
About WEHI Ventures
WEHI Ventures was established in 2023 to manage 66ten, the first internal pre-seed and seed fund created by Australian medical research institute, WEHI. 66ten is investing A$66M over 10 years to build on WEHI’s track record of commercial success. WEHI Ventures brings the brightest of seed stage R&D programs developed at or in collaboration with WEHI forward to co-investment partners globally.
WEHI Ventures is overseen by an investment committee of experienced biotech entrepreneurs, Venture Capital investment managers and industry R&D leaders, and supports its ventures through an agile team of experienced early-stage drug discovery and development experts.
Find out more at WEHI ventures.
